Ulquiorra is my Maid
by redgear3000
Summary: By some twist of fate a girl named Keiko Fukui manages to convince Ulquiorra Cifer to become her 'man-servant' as pay back for him breaking her property. How will that decision alter her life as she knows it? Find out in Ulquiorra is my Maid!
1. Chapter 1 Be my Man-Servant!

My name is Keiko Fukui and this is my story of how I got from being an ordinary twenty year-old to having my own personal maid in roughly an hour.

I don't know why this happened to _me _of all people but one night while I was trying to get some sleep in the peaceful town of Karakura Town where I lived, I was rudely awakened when I heard a crashing noise erupting from nearby. I jumped up from bed and immediately turned on the light. I lived alone so it was really strange to hear a noise that loud and sounding so close from where I was. My first thought was that it was just the tenants downstairs partying (I live in an apartment) and some drunk dude fell over or something, though something about that crashing noise got me curious.

Kicking my feet out of bed and into my bunny slippers that were just on the floor by the bed, I left my room and wandered into the kitchen where everything seemed to be perfectly fine. Yet, when I looked over to the right, where my living room merged with the kitchen and the doorway, I noticed a silhouetted figure was lying on the ground and the window that led to the balcony of my second-storey apartment was smashed, glass littering the floor.

Though I was about to cry from how much damage whoever landed in my apartment made of my place, I was wary of confronting them – considering the fact that they were unmoving and they were also wearing the strangest clothing I had ever seen. They were wearing an all-white outfit with black stitching; and their pants were either just very baggy or my impression was wrong and it was actually a skirt they were wearing. I couldn't get anything else of what they looked at from where I was.

Even though I was still kind of scared as to who or _what _they were, I tiptoed a bit closer to where they were to get a better look. Soon I was squatting just above their unmoving form and noticed that they had short black hair and sort of a half-helmet thing over their head. The part that got me was the fact that he had a sword on his hip. My eyes widened when I noticed it – why would he be carrying a sword? And more importantly, how the heck did he burst through the window like that?! He'd had to have been flying or launched from a catapult in order to get here! Despite breaking through solid glass, though, he didn't seem to have any injuries on his body.

Suddenly, before I could react, I had a sword up to my throat. My eyes widened and I stared down at the figure who had burst through my window just moments before was not moving but now had his sword casually up to my throat without a single emotion flickering across his face. My heart pounded in my chest as I stared back at his incredibly green eyes. Finally, he said to me, "You can see me?"

Personally, I thought that was a dumb question to ask someone when you had your sword up to their throat, but that was just my opinion. I managed to squeak out, "Y-yeah…? Why… wouldn't I?" Just as quickly as he got his sword out, he put it away again.

Without another word, he tried to get to his feet but he suddenly wavered and fell again. I broke his fall, but he just simply brushed me off with such strength that knocked me to the ground even though he seemed weak, "Don't interfere. I can... stand up by–," He cut himself off as his legs seemed to give out on him again. I didn't bother catching him this time and let him fall to the ground; I didn't know what happened to him to make him this weak but whatever the case, he wasn't going to be able to go anywhere in that state.

"Do you want me to drive you to the hospital, or…?" I asked, trailing off as I looked over at his form which was flat on the floor. He turned his head to me.

"That's not necessary, human; I don't need your sympathy." He told me firmly.

"Well, it may not be sympathy you need, but you certainly need some sort of treatment." I shrugged, "The best I have is Chicken Noodle Soup; care for some?" Of course I wasn't actually going to give this stranger Chicken Noodle Soup, but I waited for him to decide for himself. He sighed, closing his eyes and obviously disregarded my comment. He brought his hand up to his face and clenched his fist.

"What is happening…?" He murmured to himself, which was probably for his ears only, but I listened in anyway, "It's as if… as if my powers just vanished…," He went on and on about stuff that didn't really make any sense at all to me. 'Spirit Particles'? 'Spiritual Pressure'? 'Lord Aizen'? 'Heuco Mundo'? As I watched him talking to himself, I put a hand on my cheek and wondered silently to myself if he was a cosplayer or something.

When he finished talking to himself and was just staring at his hand, I butted in, "So are you needing a drive to the hospital? The soup? 911? Come on, buddy, I want to get back to sleep." He dropped his hand and looked at me.

"I need none of those things. I merely need rest, I believe." He replied.

"Perfect, so do I. Do you want me to get you a room at the inn so we can both get on with our lives?" I wondered. He shook his head; well, as well as he could when he head was pressed against the floor. I furrowed my eyebrows, predicting what he was going to say next and not wanting to be right.

"That would only cause problems. I'll stay here for tonight and be on my way by the morrow." He was so matter-of-fact that it made me angry. What made him believe he could get away with bursting through _my _window and then rooming in _my _apartment?! Before I could shout out something I would regret, something popped into my head and a sneaky smile spread across my lips.

"All right, if that's what you want to do, I have a little request." I crossed my arms, but there wasn't a hint of fright or even curiosity on his face. I continued, a little daunted by his emotionless mask, "If you're going to stay here for the night after breaking into my apartment, I need to you pay me back in full for destroying my window!"

He was silent for a moment; so much so that I thought we were having an unknown staring contest. Finally, he spoke up, "That's blackmail."

"It's not _blackmail_! It's called… equivalent exchange! You know, you get what you want and I get what I want. Fair's fair, right?" I suggested, but he didn't seem too delighted by it when he closed his eyes and sighed again. He was quiet again for a long time which made me speak up, "So, do we got a deal or what? If not, I can still get you a room at the inn and leave you there all by your lonesome."

He opened his eyes again, "That wouldn't bother me in the slightest. But I'd rather be away from a crowd of humans while in this state. Very well, you shall get what you wish; how much do you want?" I had to think about that for a moment; I didn't know how much it would cost to replace the broken window, so I didn't want to give the wrong amount in case I ripped the guy off or in case I had too little money. So… to avoid that, I could… Ah-ha!

"Become my man-servant!" I called out suddenly.

Still no emotion flickered across his face even as he said, "Man… servant?"

"Yeah! Since I don't know how much it's going to cost to replace the window you broke, I'm just going to have to settle with you doing manual labor as my man-servant until I get the funds to replace the window!" Adrenaline rushed through my veins at the thought of someone else getting my groceries, cleaning the dishes, cleaning out my room, fixing my bed, doing my laundry, cleaning up after me, cooking my meals – everything! I wouldn't have to lift a finger, all I had to do was go to work and bring home the money while he was forced to do mundane tasks I'd rather not do! Maybe now I could finish that video game I started three years ago but didn't have time for!

"I refuse."

It took a while, but his voice suddenly broke through my happy thoughts. My mouth fell agape, "Wh-what?! You refuse?! B-but, you agreed to pay me back in full!"

"Yes, I said I'd pay you back in full, but I didn't say I would be your slave. Tell me the amount you want me to pay and I'll pay you when I get the chance." He stated. I frowned; oh-no you don't – you're not going to ruin my great idea like that!

"Well, it's being my man-servant or going off to the inn. Your choice." I compromised. I gauged his reaction but found none, like usual. He just seemed to glare at me from the floor, but in a very… subtle way since he couldn't quite seem to express himself.

"Very well. But _only_ until you get the funds." He finally caved in. My eyes lit up with those words and I celebrated silently in my head.

"Perfect!" I clapped my hands together, "You're hired! You start tomorrow at dawn. Make me breakfast and we'll discuss your duties as my man-servant then. Oh, and don't forget to make my coffee or I'll skin you." I was just about to triumphantly allow him to rest and go back to my own bed, when suddenly I remembered I had absolutely no idea what his name was, "Oh, by the way, my name is Keiko Fukui. But 'Mistress Fukui' should be suitable enough for you. What's yours?"

"Ulquiorra Cifer." He replied simply. I was a little curious as to what kind of name _that _was, but I decided not to pry. After all, if I was crazy enough to let a complete stranger (armed with a sword, no less) into my apartment for a place to stay _and_ make him be my man-servant in order to pay me back for breaking my window, then who the heck was I to say he had a weird name? Anyway, I took his name with a nod in recognition and made my way back to my room to get back to sleep somehow.

And from there, my days of being an ordinary twenty-year old was over.


	2. Chapter 2 Breakfast?

When I woke up the next day, I immediately knew something was terribly wrong. Not only was I _freezing _even though I was underneath two of my thickest blankets, but there was a terrible stench wafting through the room. Getting up from bed, I was forced to somehow put on three sweaters while plugging my nose. It was difficult, but I managed to get the job done and I made my way out of my room.

And I wished I had just stayed in bed.

It felt like I got punched in the face from the horrendous odor that was circulating throughout the room. If I had a gas mask I could probably block out _some _of that awful stink, but I think the mask would just end up disintegrating as soon as I put it on, the odor in the apartment was _that_ bad. Also, even though I had three of my thickest sweaters on, I was still shivering like I was stuck in Antarctica with only a tank top and shorts on. When I looked up at the ceiling, there was a thick trail of smoke leading out from the kitchen and out the broken window which was bringing in the winter weather outside.

Immediately, I went over to the broken window and covered it with a blanket that was sprawled over my couch in the living room. I held it there with emergency laundry pins and even though it didn't completely block out the cold, it was good enough for me to cease shivering once I backed away from the window.

Finally, I turned around to see what the heck was going on in the kitchen. There, I saw the biggest mess I had ever seen: There was pancake mix splattered in various areas of the kitchen, including the ceiling; egg shells all over the floor with some yolk fluid covering the counter; a column of black smoke was traveling to the ceiling angrily from the burner; there were a ton of used cooking utensils tossed around the kitchen, including the BBQ brush; and lastly the fridge was wide open and a carton of milk had fallen on the floor with a trickle of milk leading from the top.

I just had to stare at this mess for the longest time to find the right words to say to this. First I wanted to scream out a stream of swear words to that Ulquiorra, but I quickly rationalized that it probably wouldn't get me anywhere if I did that. Trying to calm myself down as best I could, I shouted, "_WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!_"

Ulquiorra turned around, revealing his entire front to be wasted in pancake mix and milk stains, "Making breakfast, like you said."

"That's not breakfast! This is break-my-kitchen! Haven't you ever cooked before?" I came closer into the kitchen, but I was slightly afraid I would die tragically from inhaling all that smoke. When I saw what he was frying up on the frying pan at such a high heat, I realized there was a lump of something black sitting in the middle of the frying pan.

"No." He replied unabashedly, "Though I did once bring food to a prisoner."

"That doesn't count!" I yelled. I paused a moment, trying to regain myself. It's all right, Keiko… it's his first day – perhaps this is just a really bad premonition for something good that's going to come from my decision I made when I was half-asleep. Speaking of good things…, "Did you put my coffee on?"

"I did. It's over there." Ulquiorra pointed to a mug that was just sitting there amidst the chaos that surrounded it. Relieved that he at least got the coffee thing right, I went over to it and looked inside. My eye twitched when I found out that all that was in the mug was a bunch of coffee grinds floating around in some water along with something else.

"…what the heck is this?" I asked quietly.

"Coffee. I also went ahead and put some lemons in it." He replied.

"You put lemons in _tea_! What planet were you born on?!" I demanded.

"Heuco Mundo." Ulquiorra responded so quickly and so seriously that I couldn't find any words to impart to him after he said that. 'Hueco Mundo'? I didn't know if it was _him _who was losing it or it was _me _who was losing it.

"A-anyway… today I'll make my own breakfast, since I have to leave for work soon. While I'm doing that, clean up this mess you made. Before I leave, I'll tell you what I want you to do for today and you'd better not _mess _it up_._" I scratched my head, turning off the burner and popping some toast in the toaster while in the corner of my eye I noticed that he quietly got to work cleaning off the counter.

"All right… after that little 'display', let's call it, what else do you _not_ know how to do that I should know of?" I wondered, sitting down with a cup of actual coffee in front of me as well as a slightly burnt piece of toast with lots of butter slapped on it to cover the gross burnt taste. I wasn't the greatest cook myself, but still I didn't destroy the kitchen when I did make something. Still, he did prove himself a little bit when he cleaned his mess up – there wasn't a spot of pancake mix anywhere to be seen.

"I do not know how to operate certain machines that this world has. I also do not know where to get food or what currency I should use to buy items. I don't know how draw water from the water basin on that countertop; I also don't–," He began.

"OK, OK, I get it. You don't know how a lot of things work here." I interrupted, beginning to push the panic button when I glanced at the clock and saw that it said '8:12 am'. My shift started at 10:00 am and I had so much to tell him so he didn't ruin anything like he did just now. Biting my lip, I wondered how I was going to deal with this dilemma properly. I could just start with him doing one task at a time…? Or two? Two couldn't hurt. GAH! Why didn't he know how to turn on a faucet for goodness sake?! Calming myself down mentally, I continued with, "Okie-dokie, then. Today, I'll teach you two new things: You will learn how to do the dishes and you will learn how to follow a recipe. Those are your tasks for today – are you prepared?"

"As I'll ever be." He replied.

"I didn't hear you say it!" I coaxed, smirking at him.

"…Mistress Fukui." Ulquiorra conceded, not looking at me. Even though he seemed terribly ashamed of himself for submitting to this, I didn't give one ounce of care; it sounded wonderful to be called something like that.

Anyway, I got to my feet with my coffee cup in my hand and went over to where the sink was with a mountain of dishes waiting to be done. I waved him over and he obediently followed, which made me feel horny – like a dog owner feeling proud that their dog comes to them when they call them. Forgetting the feeling by the time he came over, I took my hand and turned the tap to the faucet which triggered the water into pouring in the sink. Before I wasted too much water, I put the stopper into place and watched the sink quickly fill up with water.

"The red tap calls upon the warmer water while the blue one is for the cold water. Put the stopper in the middle of the sink to fill it up with water. While that's happening," I picked up some dish detergent, "pour a tiny amount of this and you've got your dish cleaning sink. And I apologize for the lack of dish washer, this is a very old fashioned building."

"How does this work?" Ulquiorra asked with curiosity.

"How the tap works? Don't ask me, I have no idea." I replied honestly.

"What do you do after this?" He inquired.

"Well, when the water gets up high enough for your liking, you take a dish, clean it off with this sponge thingy and put it on the rack there. Once you're finished washing all of them, you have to dry them off with this here towel." I showed him a really old towel I got at the flea market for a buck fifty. I was a thrifty person in nature and I always bought things second-hand if I could.

"This sounds like a futile task. These dishes are going to just get dirty again." Ulquiorra pointed out. It was strange because the words sounded like they were complaining, but his tone didn't suggest that. I was surprised at how… collected he was.

"Of course it's a futile task – such is life; deal with it." I told him. Just as I said that I jumped at how high the water level had gotten while I took my eyes off of it and I turned the tap off. If there was one thing I hated, it was wasting water – the poor fish… Anyway, I turned back to Ulquiorra, "Oh yeah, and after you dry them you have to put them in the cupboards. I don't care where, as long as I don't see them when I get back from work, all right? Cool, that's the Crash Course on the Art of Dishwashing."

"Mistress Fukui, when are you leaving and coming back from your 'work'?" Ulquiorra wondered, which made me think of all those really adorable cat memes on the internet when they say stuff like 'when iz u comin back? i will miss u'. It was probably because his eyes looked positively cat-like, but that was beyond the point – he _willingly _called me Mistress Fukui! Ten points for Me-ffendor!

"I'm leaving at ten o'clock and I'll be back at around six o'clock this evening. Which means you have eight hours to do these two tasks I'm giving you today." I answered, walking over to the cupboard where I had all of my recipes written down. Flipping through the book, I looked for the easiest meal I could possibly give him when I came to fried tofu – I had the simplest version of it down in my book so I set it down in front of him but before talking about it I took a sip of my coffee. Though I accidentally took too much of a swig because I ended up coughing up some of the coffee onto the cook book. I tried to dry it off but it was too late; but I didn't worry about it, I could still read the ingredients so it was all good.

"OK – now on to following recipes: Basically all you have to do is know the difference between tsp and tbsp." I pulled out tablespoons and teaspoons and showed him the difference, only hoping I was making any sense to him. I continued on, "All the ingredients on this recipe are in this cupboard and they're all labeled so I think you'll be fine finding all these things."

"What does it mean by 'pan fried'?" Ulquiorra piped up.

"You know, it's when you cook it in that thing you were using to cook that lump this earlier today. But, um… don't cook it quite to that length. Just until it looks like how it does in this picture, got it?" I pointed to the picture of the pan fried tofu picture. He nodded.

"So it shall be done." Ulquiorra said. For some reason, I didn't feel quite so confident he knew what to do. I continued telling him all there was to know about following recipes until suddenly Ulquiorra spoke up again, "Mistress Fukui?"

"What is it?" I wondered.

"The time to ten o'clock is drawing near." He told me which caused my heart rate to climb exponentially. My blood ran cold when I realized that it was just as he said, it was 9:45 am!

"Shit! Got to go–!" I began, going for the door until I realized that I was still in my pyjamas. Double-taking I rushed back to my room and threw on my clothes and rushed for the door again. Though, for some reason, I suddenly felt like being a nagging mom who had to go but was leaving her child at home alone. I went back to him to yell, "Don't forget to do the dishes and make my supper! I'm going to be looking forward to fried tofu! Oh, and if you get hungry, there's a few things in the fridge; or if you get bored you can watch TV as long as you don't break it–,"

"I'll be fine. Just get to work already." Ulquiorra interrupted me, which caused me to blush from embarrassment but race out to my car anyway. What the heck was that? 'I'll be fine'? I wasn't worried about _him_ I was worried about what state _my apartment_ was going to be in when I got back from work. Still, when he said that… I suddenly felt as though I shouldn't worry about him – that he actually _was _going to be all right.

_Geez! What was wrong with you? Get your head back in the game, Keiko! _I shouted to myself in my head as I started up the engine and backed out of the parking lot.


	3. Chapter 3 You have Friends?

As usual, work was as tedious as a sack of potatoes. I worked at an old book store which was owned by a crazy blind old man with wiry grey hair which revealed all his liver spots. Despite his outward appearance, he was actually a nice man – even if he was 82 and was on a trillion types of medication. In a way, I felt sorry for him; he lost his daughter in a car accident and was never the same. The old man always told me I remind him of her. Though when I look at his old pictures that are hung on the wall out back and look at his blonde fair-haired daughter with the silly grin on her face wearing a flowery dress and her bright blue eyes… I can't bring myself to tell him I'm the exact opposite of her: With my thick black hair and dark eyes. Not to mention I don't sport dresses at all – I avoid them if I can, really.

Anyway, I slumped to my apartment tired of standing there waiting for no customers except the few who are still devoted to physical copies of books rather than their E-books. It felt nice to just open the door right away without having to grab my keys and fumble with the old lock. When I entered the doorway, I was half-expecting something like this morning and half-expecting a huge improvement at the same time. Yet, I was met with something entirely different.

There was someone else here. I closed the door behind me and stared at the new stranger. It was someone with blue spiky hair and sharp green eyes. He had this jaw-bone like thing on his cheek and around his eyes was this green eye-shadow make-up thing. He was sitting on my couch like he owned the place with his arm up over the back of it watching something on the TV. When I came in, he turned his head and showed zero percent interest in the fact that I was existing there. He was wearing something similar to Ulquiorra – the same white and black clothing.

"You're back." I heard Ulquiorra say, tearing my attention from the person watching _Big Bang Theory _in my apartment to him. Without any words I pointed to the stranger, but Ulquiorra seemed to disregard the fact that I was shocked at the new person, "I just finished the fried tofu."

At the words 'fried tofu' I decided to chow down before asking any questions. When Ulquiorra placed the plate down on the table, I noticed that it looked good… perhaps even edible! Certainly an improvement from this morning! Taking my fork, I dug in and noticed that it tasted pretty good; I was quite impressed! Anyway, while I was chewing my food, I turned to the stranger then to Ulquiorra, "Um… is there any particular reason _he's_ here? A friend of yours?"

"Grimmjow? He's hardly _anything_ to me." Ulquiorra replied, which got this 'Grimmjow' fired up.

"Yeah and I wouldn't _be _here if it weren't for Lord Aizen's orders! You damn well better be happy that I even _bothered _looking for your sorry ass! You would be stuck here as this chick's goddamn _maid _if I hadn't showed up! Show me some gratitude if you're going to be wasting my time!" Grimmjow yelled, obviously very distasteful toward Ulquiorra for some reason.

"You can tell Lord Aizen I am currently in the middle of returning a favor. I can't very well go back on my word, even if I was tricked into agreeing." Ulquiorra looked over at me, expressionless, when he said this which made me sheepishly giggle. I didn't exactly intend to trick him per se… I just honestly didn't know the cost of replacing the window and since he already agreed, I didn't want to waste any further time by waiting until morning _and _after work to find out how much he owed me. So I just… tweaked the request a bit.

"Just leave! You have no obligation to be here! This bitch can't keep you!" Grimmjow growled. This was getting tense – this Grimmjow had a point. Now that Ulquiorra was feeling somewhat better than last night, he could just leave anytime he wanted… I probably wouldn't be able to stop him. I looked over at him with worry; was I going to lose my man-servant in a _day_? Ugh, hopefully that doesn't make it to the _Guinness Book of World Records _because that would be embarrassing.

"She may not be able to keep me here, but my health is what's keeping me here." Ulquiorra confessed which surprised me. He still wasn't feeling well? But, he can actually stand up on his feet today; that was a fast improvement, really. He continued, "And besides, I already said I would pay her back and I will do just that."

"Ulquiorra…," I whispered. Wow. Just wow. That was all I could think at that moment – what a loyal man. He would stay not only because his health called for it but also because he told me he would do it? Most people would be like 'yeah, whatever' but here he was – a man most likely born in the wrong era.

Grimmjow scratched the back of his head irritably, "Your health? What the hell does that have to do with anything? Lord Aizen wants you back no matter if you have a broken leg or not. And some sorry excuse like 'I already said I'd do it' isn't going to cut it either. Just come back to Las Noches – it'd save me the headache."

"I was curious about my sudden failing of health as well. While resting here last night, I tried using Cero, but I received no response. I even tried some Bala, but to no avail. I fear that I also lack the potential to use my Resurrección." Ulquiorra told Grimmjow which made absolutely no sense to me, but it seemed to shock the pants off Grimmjow.

"You can't use your…? Why? What happened?" Grimmjow asked.

"I don't know myself. It only started happening when I came close to Karakura Town." Ulquiorra explained. While I was chewing on my fried tofu I looked at the two of them individually as they seemed to begin thinking about whatever situation they were in.

Swallowing, I said, "All right, I admit, I have no idea what you two are talking about. Care to fill me in a little? After all I am the owner of this apartment." It would seem I chose a bad time to break through their thoughts because they turned to me blankly, like they wanted to beat the crap out of me for interrupting their train of thought but were still thinking.

"Why not? It might help us sort out our own thoughts." Grimmjow shrugged.

"But wouldn't Lord Aizen get angry for imparting any information to her?" Ulquiorra warned.

"Nah, as long as we don't spill the important stuff." Grimmjow scoffed. Getting up from the couch, he came over and pulled a seat out near the table I was eating at, "So, what do you want to know?"

"First of all, who's this 'Lord Aizen' character? Your boss?" I wondered.

"Basically. All right, next question." Grimmjow quickly said.

"Hey! You barely answered my question!" I complained.

"What you hear is what you get, now shut up and accept it." Grimmjow threatened, causing me to shut up pretty quickly. Geez, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were wearing very similar outfits and bowed down to the same Lord Aizen, but they were polar opposites: Ulquiorra didn't make me feel as though I were in a back alley being threatened by a local thug.

"All right, then." I sighed, "Who are you guys exactly?"

"We're Arrancars – a form of spirits who are much higher than mere Hollows. You do know what Hollows are, don't you?" Grimmjow asked me cautiously. I shook my head, which caused him to groan in frustration, "So much for 'sorting out our thoughts' – we have to start from the very _fucking_ beginning!"

"Which raises an important question… how is it that, if she doesn't know what a Hollow is, she can see us? She's just a human." Ulquiorra speculated. Grimmjow seemed to consider this as well because he stared me dead in the eyes until I thought I was going to croak from just his gaze alone.

"That's a good point. Maybe there's something she's not telling us…," Grimmjow trailed off. Suddenly he grabbed the collar of my shirt and balled it up in his fist, "Don't tell me you're a Soul Reaper and you're just hiding it from us."

I panicked, "I-I swear I'm not a So-Soul Ripper or whatever it is! I never even heard of it!" Grimmjow released me, but reluctantly seeing as he gave me a lasting glare. I wiped the sweat off my forehead – that was close; I could smell my flesh cooking above a fire from the picture I had in my head of him eating me for supper. Which wouldn't surprise me if it ended up happening.

"So… you're 'Arrancars', huh…? For some reason that actually explains quite a bit: It explains why Ulquiorra has such pale skin and that weird thing on his head. Wait! Does that mean these 'Arrancars' come from Hueco Mundo?" I asked, recalling this morning when I asked Ulquiorra what planet he was from and being shocked by his causal response.

"Correct. That is our home. Las Noches is inside Hueco Mundo, it's our domain." Ulquiorra nodded.

"And basically, this is like another planet where this 'Lord Aizen' rules over you and the other 'Arrancars', am I right?" I wondered, imagining both Grimmjow and Ulquiorra sitting in a UFO arguing over which lane to take to get to the nearest galaxy.

"Well, you're right about the whole 'ruling over the Arrancars' thing, but a little off on the another planet part. Instead of being that, Hueco Mundo is another dimension completely." Grimmjow told me, finally not growling or getting frustrated with me. But the thought of another dimension completely boggled my mind. Did it mean that they were from an alternate time line? Or were they just in another space-time zone completely? What the heck did that mean? Where the heck was this Hueco Mundo and why was its existence so confusing?!

I decided not to pry for minute details, "All right, so let me get this straight again: You're from an alternate dimension and serve a dude named Aizen. So are you, like, his bodyguards? And if you are, does that mean you're like super-awesome sword fighting dudes? Can you show me an example of your swordplay?" Even though I didn't want to force all the details about their organization of so-called Arrancars and whatever, I ended up asking a whole series of different questions.

"Heh, I'd be glad to." Grimmjow chuckled, grabbing for his sword. Even though the outside of the sword was completely normal, there was something about it that I sensed immediately. It was as if… it was alive or something – I know that sounded strange, but I swear that's what it felt like. Finally Grimmjow drew his shiny sword and he pointed it directly at me. It was then that I got nervous – I should have known better than to ask for something like _that _from a guy like _him_. Judging from his eagerness to draw his blade, it was pretty easy to derive that he was planning on murdering me and possibly making it out to be an accident; especially if he wanted to get out of here so he can do his own thing.

I got out from my chair and backed up, "Um… what are you doing?" Once again, I hoped my prediction about what he was planning on using his sword to show me his skill was wrong, but since he was coming closer toward me menacingly, I knew I was right. I covered my head with my arms in anticipation when he brought his sword up into the air.

Though I was waiting for an impact, I heard the clanking of metal. Scraping soon followed it, so I carefully took my arms away from my face, staring up at the scene before me. Ulquiorra had… blocked the blow with his own blade? But… why? If Grimmjow had just taken my life, he would have been able to leave without being stuck as my man-servant. Even Grimmjow was surprised.

"What the hell, Ulquiorra?! Why are you defending this _human_?!" He asked as Ulquiorra threw his sword off of his own blade. Grimmjow still kept his sword out, now pointed to Ulquiorra while I got to my feet behind Ulquiorra with amazement. He deflected Grimmjow's sword with just one arm?

"Although it would be better if this human were to die, for my benefit, I am still her servant by agreement and defending her especially in her own home is a part of my duties." Ulquiorra told Grimmjow plainly as if he was pained to protect me too.

"Tch, fine. I'll just have to report to Lord Aizen that his favorite Espada is serving a human girl in the World of the Living and won't come back with me. Wouldn't he be happy to find _that_ out?" Grimmjow said, heading for the broken window and pulling back the blanket – taking one last glance at us, probably to gauge our reaction and left.

Once he was gone, I certainly felt relieved, but I looked over at Ulquiorra who was still looking at where Grimmjow left. Suddenly, I felt really bad about keeping him here and being my man servant when he could get in huge trouble for that. Yet, I couldn't stop myself from saying, "Ulquiorra, are you… are you going to go with him? Would something bad happen if–,"

"Are you going to finish your fried tofu?" He cut me off, finally turning away from the window and going back into the kitchen. I looked on with shock when I saw him fill up the sink by himself and began to clean the dishes off that he made to make the fried tofu. Going back to my chair I finished off the cold fried tofu that I had been neglecting since they started talking about themselves.

"But," I began again when I had finished my fried tofu and brought the plate over to him, "aren't you going to get into trouble if you don't go back with that Grimmjow guy? Aren't you worried about that?" He turned to me for a moment, but didn't make any sort of expression on his face when he began scrubbing at the dish in the sink.

"Why would I worry? I already know I'll be fine – you should be more worried about yourself. If Lord Aizen wants to kill anyone, it's going to be you; even though I'm weakened, I'm still useful to Lord Aizen if he can figure out why this happened to me." Ulquiorra told me, setting a dish on the drying rack.

"Oh… you're going to be protect me when that happens, right? I mean, you stopped Grimmjow – so you'll stop this Aizen too, right?" I asked nervously.

He hesitated for an instant, but replied with, "I don't know, honestly. Lord Aizen is my leader and I follow his every word, but then I am only a temporary servant of yours – I don't know which one fits the priority." That made my heart sink – I had no definite way of knowing whether or not I was going to be all right with Ulquiorra staying here? Maybe I should just let him go… but I needed _some _sort of payment for the broken window and letting him stay here. What should I do?! GAH!

"Well… I'm just going to… get some… sleep now…," I muttered, backing off to my room. I tried to rub away the goosebumps that were forming on my arms while I made my way over to my room as my heart rate climbed to an unhealthy rate. Just get some sleep Keiko… maybe this will all be just a _bad dream._ Yes… a _bad dream…_

…is what I would have _liked _for it to have been.


	4. Chapter 4 Snow Day

"Mistress Fukui, we have a crisis on the premises." I heard Ulquiorra's voice break through my dreams. I tried to ignore him by pulling the blankets over my head, but they were quickly pulled off me again. I reluctantly got up, rubbing my eyes and yawning. Despite not getting to sleep out of fear of this Aizen character, I managed at around six o'clock to take a cat nap, which was why I was so out of it that day.

"And just what is this 'crisis'?" I wondered sleepily.

"I think it would be better if you saw it for yourself." He replied, walking out of my room. Sighing, I pulled the blanket around me and soon followed after him.

As soon as I left the room, I stared in shock at what I saw in the living room. There was a large pile of snow that was leaking in through the window and more still was coming. There was a crazy blizzard raging outside – so bad that I could barely see the balcony outside the broken window. Even though I was awake basically all night, I hadn't noticed that this blizzard had started?! I supposed I _was _tucked under the blankets like I was trying to dodge gunfire, waiting for this Aizen to come and kill me, but still – I could have at least heard this storm!

"Great." I said plainly, nodding my head as if I was completely calm when I wasn't, "OK. I now see what you mean by 'crisis'."

"What do you want me to do?" Ulquiorra wondered, as if seeing a mountain of snow piling up in someone's apartment was normal.

"It's times like these when I wish I was smart and bought a shovel, but _noooo, it's not necessary_." I muttered to myself then grabbed a nearby bucket and passed it to Ulquiorra, "Shovel as much snow as you can and get it out of here. Meanwhile, I'll call my boss and tell him I can't make it so we can do something about this so it doesn't happen again."

Immediately, Ulquiorra got to shovelling the snow out with the plastic bucket while I went over to the phone to tell my boss the obvious news. I always hated telling someone I couldn't go somewhere or telling someone I can't get into work because it made me feel guilty, but if there was no way I could get in, there was no way to get in period. I usually end up telling myself throughout the day over and over 'it's not your fault you can't come… it's the weather's!' and so forth. And this is when 'Socially Awkward Penguin' begins to describe my life.

It only rang for a few seconds until someone picked up the phone, "Keiko-chan? Izzat you?" I suspected my boss was waiting for my call, but I was surprised he knew there was a blizzard outside. Or maybe he didn't and just took a lucky guess – with the help of Ayumu-san, his caretaker.

"Hello, Bunkichi-san, it _is _Keiko. I'm just calling in because I can't make it in due to the storm. I apologize–," I began.

"Don't worry yourself, dear. You can't stop the weather – enjoy your day off." Bunkichi-san told me amiably, which cured my guilt.

"Thank you very much, sir. You enjoy yourself as well." I replied, hanging up. Immediately, I turned to Ulquiorra who was working hard getting all the snow out of the apartment. Grabbing my own bucket, I decided to help him out, "Geez, this weather though, huh? Worst time of year."

"I rather enjoy it." Ulquiorra said, which caught my attention. I looked at him carefully while shovelling with my pathetic plastic bucket. Ulquiorra… enjoying something? I only known him for about a day and a half, but I didn't think he'd _ever _show any sign of liking or disliking anything.

When he didn't elaborate on that, I asked, "And why is that?"

"It's much quieter now; none of those metallic cages that human ride in making their racket… no more feet stomping around in the other apartment rooms – just the silent wind blowing and noiseless snow cascading down to the ground… It's much more peaceful – empty silence." Ulquiorra told me, which was the most I had ever heard come out of his mouth – _ever_. I was taken aback from how thoughtful he sounded, as if he had firsthand experienced such empty solitude as he exuded from his being.

"I guess I can see the point in that." I nodded in agreement. But I frowned, "But… honestly, I find solitude to be such a… frightening thing, you know?"

Ulquiorra looked at me, still shovelling but still expressionless, "Frightening? What's there to be afraid of? If you are alone, no one is there to threaten your life; you don't have to answer to anyone; and most importantly, you have no obligations that are forced upon you. How could you possibly be afraid of those things?"

"That's why I can understand the benefits of being alone, but on the opposite side: There is also no one around to love you or for you to love. _That's_ the part that scares me the most." I paused, looking out the window to stare out at the hail of endless snow, "You know, it was on a day like today – snowing so hard you could barely even see the hand in front of your face. We had to get home from my grandparent's house before tomorrow because both of my parents had to work the next day. Though, there was blizzard outside and the police even advised people to stay off the roads unless it was absolutely necessary. We had no choice – we had to go.

"This was roughly nine years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. We were driving uneasily on the snowy roads, unable to see if anyone was coming on the opposite side of the road or if we were on the right side of the road. This is why… why we didn't see the car coming straight toward us – I can still hear my mother screaming to my father and the tires of both cars squealing, trying to miss each other. Yet, while we barely scraped by the other car, the car we dodged smashed into a nearby tree and the front of it blew up immediately. The explosion hit the back of our car, where I was.

"I blacked out after that and woke up in a hospital. My parents told me they were so worried because I had been making no responses, but my heart was still beating. The doctors told me that due to my head injury, I was an inch away from death, but I just made it. When I inquired afterward about the other car, I was shocked to find out that the only person in the car had died. They told me her name, but I forget it now… all I can remember is hearing them say she was going to visit her father when the tragedy occurred. That guilt that we were somehow responsible for her death stays with me… even now…

"To make matters worse, it was after the incident that I began having hallucinations. Where I could see something another person couldn't. My parents were worried about me at first and sent me to a shrink doctor for therapy. Yet as time wore on, the sessions proved useless because I still kept seeing things. Soon my parents just saw me as a financial strain and ended the sessions after three years had gone by to save money, but they told me that I couldn't keep using the accident as an excuse to be a burden on them. They told me that I should get a job so I can move out as soon as I possibly could to support myself and understand that life goes on, no matter how many accidents happen in this world.

"It was then that solidarity hit me: When I was shoved out of my home because I was being too much of a burden. I had gone from a loving, supportive family to a lonely little apartment with no one to hold or to love…," I stopped my story there, thinking back on my first few days in my new apartment… how empty I felt at first… how lonely and heartbroken I felt…

Suddenly, embarrassment hit me. My face reddened and I scratched my nose, "But listen to me go on – you probably don't care at all, haha… um, but this should be good enough for the snow because it's only going to pile up again anyway."

"What should we do, then?" Ulquiorra asked. I looked around my very spacious apartment when I recalled my hiking kit had a tarp in it. Rushing over to grab it, I pulled out the tarp along with some duct tape – the duct tape with the mustaches on it because it was pretty.

"We tape this tarp nice 'n good over the hole, that's what!" I said, proud of myself for being so clever.

We began putting the tarp up in silence for the longest time, working diligently on the mini-project until – surprisingly – Ulquiorra broke the silence, "I can relate to your story a bit; though, my story is opposite to yours. In my beginnings, I was completely and utterly alone – it was barren where I was and I was contented with that. Though, circumstances changed and I found myself suddenly surrounded by others like me. I can't say I was entirely delighted as there was that part of me that always wished for that solitude again. But, now that I've been with others, I find that I can't be alone like how I was before ever again, regrettably." I stood there, inspecting Ulquiorra: Picturing him standing in the middle of nowhere, not doing anything but being unspeakably happy in his own expressionless way.

"I think I'd rather be in your shoes." I said suddenly, which seemed to catch him off guard because I caught his eyes widen for a split second.

"And _why _would you want that?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I think that's because even though you had no one to begin with, but you were surrounded by people in the end. Whereas for me, I had very important people in my life, but they… they pushed me away. It's more painful to lose someone you love rather than to be alone all the time." I explained.

"Now _that _I absolutely cannot relate to. Why love another when they can easily crush it or manipulate it for their benefit? It's better to never love, never care, never _feel_ for another and only one's self." Ulquiorra immediately said.

"I don't know how it is for you Arrancar's," I began, shaking my head as I put more tape on the tarp, "but for us humans, we need love in order to develop and grow. Without it, we don't get the richness of life as we do when we love and _are_ loved. We've had multiple theories of societal growth: The Eight Stages of Man, Glasser's theory of a human's needs, Maslow's hierarchy of needs… and so much more. We put love in the very core of our development. That… I think, is both a human's weakness _and _a human's strength."

"Nonsense. You're just spewing out sentimental nonsense. There is no strength in love; there is only soft fools who need to wake up from their own delusions. They are prey for the independent, and thus they will always fall to the stronger one who has no one to distract them." Ulquiorra countered.

Even though I saw the truth in his words, I couldn't help but feel uneasy about it. Ever since I left home, I felt this loneliness Ulquiorra was telling me about which supposedly gave me strength… and even though I _do _feel more powerful by means of independence, I still felt empty which left me feeling as though everything was… I don't know… futile. Why did anything have to exist? It would be so much easier if there was nothing. Every day these thoughts plagued me until I refused to listen to them. Things existed for a reason and finding that out was why we were here. Surrounding myself in relationships with a few regulars at the bookstore, contacting my parents regularly to let them know how I was doing and my relationship with Bunkichi-san… all these things were giving me strength to keep going day-to-day. Though, I kept that all to myself in fear of Ulquiorra's firm rebuttal. He was very set in his ways, there was no point trying to convince him otherwise.

Finally, we finished taping the tarp to the window and soon afterward we both enjoyed (well, _I _did anyway) breakfast quietly together. I passed Ulquiorra a cup of black coffee and some cream, to which he just stared at.

"What do I do with this?" He asked.

"You drink it." I replied, "But I suggest you put some of that cream in – coffee tastes disgustingly bitter if you don't–," I paused when he drank it straight back without putting a drop of cream in it, "—or not."

"So this is 'coffee'. An interesting substance. Very bitter." Ulquiorra speculated. I supposed he was all right with it being like that because he didn't touch or even _look _at the cream and just kept on drinking the black coffee.

"Uh… yeah. Anyway, what do you want to do now? There really isn't anything for you to do today since I'm staying home. How about some Netflix? I'm watching _The Walking Dead_ right now, but I can still fill you in about what's going on." I suggested going over to the TV and booting it up.

"Are you positive you don't require my services at this moment?" Ulquiorra asked, following me over to the couch.

"I'm positive; besides, you need a break too!" I laughed, but, of course, he didn't react then either.

"Very well. I shall indulge in this 'Netflix' as well and await my next assignment." Ulquiorra conceded, sitting down in the spot next to me while I pressed the episode of _The Walking Dead_ on Netflix.


	5. Chapter 5 What the Heck?

When I awoke the next morning – I was surprised, firstly, that Ulquiorra didn't burst into my room like how he did yesterday with more tragic news; and, secondly, there was the undeniable, heavenly, joyous, glorious, wonderful smell of none other than:

Bacon.

Getting out of bed and changing into my clothes for today I had the feeling that nothing could possibly go wrong today. I mean, no bad news _and _bacon was sizzling on the grill… already my day was made. I even dressed in a cheery yellow sweater with a flower on it and a pair of my green skinny jeans, I was so flipping happy.

As I came out of my room, I took a good whiff of the air and sighed, "Ahh… Ulquiorra my man, if I was paying you for these services, I'd give you a raise!" I walked over to the kitchen, salivating over the sizzling bacon before me.

"Do you enjoy this article of food?" He asked me, looking down curiously at the bacon as if it were a foreign object of some sort.

"Heck yeah! I mean, it's _bacon_! What's there _not _to like?" I asked rhetorically, but Ulquiorra still looked lost, even if he didn't show it on his face. I picked one of the slices when I deemed it was cooked thoroughly enough. While chewing, I wondered, "So, how'd you like the show last night? Pretty intense, huh?" I didn't want to add that it increased my anxiety at night – I imagined a zombie Aizen chasing after me for the bulk of the night. Yet, I didn't want to sound like such a dweeb to him.

"It was… different – but highly illogical. People coming back from the dead to prey on the living? Nonsense." Ulquiorra took another slice of bacon off the grill and set it on a plate for me which I immediately gobbled down, "Oh… and I believe I figured out how to use the coffee machine – it's ready to be poured."

I admit, I was a little nervous about seeing how it turned out, but I poured it into my waiting cup anyway. Luckily, everything seemed normal while I poured – no grinds in it or anything. When I went to taste it, it was pretty good! I was pleasantly shocked.

"Wow! On your first day, you knew nothing of how to cook or even make coffee – now you're like a pro! How'd you learn so quickly?" I wondered, genuinely curious.

"My first day was a practice run, and I experimented with different ingredients until you had gotten up. After that I carefully observed when you made the coffee and followed from that. Also, while you were at your 'work', I took that time to figure out how to work things around here and so forth, until Grimmjow interrupted me." Ulquiorra explained, which made me see him in a new light. He really took the saying 'if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well'. Yet, he _wasn't_ getting paid, he was kept here basically against his _will_, stuck pinned into doing jobs he's _never_ done before _and _was in an entirely different dimension, weakened, when he could have been someplace else right about now. Why was he putting so much effort into this? There wasn't many, if any, benefits, for him at _all_.

Still, I smiled after taking a sip of my coffee, "Ulquiorra?"

"Do you wish for more of this 'bacon', Mistress Fukui?" Ulquiorra assumed, already grabbing for more bacon.

"Yeah that too, but I just wanted to say… thank you." I said genuinely. Ulquiorra put more bacon on the hot grill then turned to me with, I suspected, confusion.

"Thank you? Why would you say that? I am merely doing my duty as I gave me word, it is nothing to be thankful for." He told me as if it were obvious.

"Well, that may be so, but I really appreciate your hard work around here." I elaborated, taking another slice of bacon, "Grimmjow was right the other day, you know? You could have left, nothing was stopping you from leaving. You also went to the extent of defending me from Grimmjow when he attacked me, despite the possibility of getting in trouble. It is for these things, and more, that I am grateful for." For a moment, Ulquiorra just stared at me, not saying a single word. Although it got me worried a little bit, I felt as though I has said the right thing at that moment. It was all true too – if I had extra cash to burn I'd probably slap it in his hands right then and there.

Finally, he turned away from me, "It's exactly as I said yesterday – other people's company is so frustrating…," That suddenly really lit a fire under my butt – he says _that _after I politely complimented him?!

"What was that?! Why would you say that?!" I raised my voice angrily.

"I mean that you irritate me." Ulquiorra replied, his voice like a whip, "You tell me all these foolish words of 'thanks', but you probably only say them to try and get me to stay here so I can continue to do all your chores. Am I wrong?"

"I say something nice and _that's _my thanks? Well _sorr-ee_, next time I'll think twice about throwing around compliments since they're so menacing to you!" I flared up, wondering how it jumped from a simple 'Wow, thanks for doing such a good job when you don't have to!' to 'I can't believe you just said that – you annoying twat'.

Silence filled the room for the longest time save for the bacon sizzling and me occasionally sipping from my coffee cup. I glanced at Ulquiorra from time to time, wondering what was going through his mind right now, but, of course, he wore that same expressionless mask on his face. I silently cursed myself for getting so flippant with him – even if he was the one who had told me off first. Of course… I should have known that he wouldn't have accepted the compliment because of all that stuff he told me yesterday: About how being alone was better than being surrounded by people and that people were a lot stronger when they don't rely on others. Still, my accepting my wrong-doings wasn't going to be communicated to him just yet. I wanted an apology from him _first_, if that would even come, I didn't know.

When all the bacon had been eaten and my coffee had been drank, I explained the duties Ulquiorra was to do today – very business-like, "So, since next to nothing important was done yesterday, I believe the laundry is a bit overdue. I don't need to explain how to do that as the instructions for doing laundry is placed on the wall downstairs because our washing machines and dryers are old fashioned and a lot of people were confused as to how to use them. Anyway, the two baskets in my room are 'due-to-be-washed' clothes; put them in separately and don't… sift through it either." I finished with blush smearing my face. Either Ulquiorra didn't notice my reaction or he just ignored it because his face still remained as blank as ever.

I continued the tasks for today, surprised that he wasn't asking as much questions as he normally did. Deciding to forget, I went on to tell him about the vacuum cleaner – there wasn't much to say other than to plug it in and move it around on the carpet. I thought for a moment, "Well, I think that's all I'll add to today – doing the dishes and making my dinner are still on the list so do that too."

"And you'll be back again around six o'clock again today, correct?" Ulquiorra asked, for the first time in a long time.

"Yes, I will." I nodded, "Well, I'm going now. Don't forget – do the separate baskets in separate rounds!" With that, I left Ulquiorra to his duties while I went to mine. As I walked down the stairs to the main exit, I couldn't help but think to myself that perhaps I _should _go back and tell him I didn't mean to blow up at him like I did… but another part of me was saying to let him think about what he said for a while and let him approach me on his own if he cared.

I hesitated, my hand ready to push the doors leading to the outside. I looked at my reflection, looking at the thick dark rings under my eyes and almost laughed at myself. Look at me – I was such a poor rendition of what I was before all this started: Before Ulquiorra fell into my apartment. At first, I didn't have anyone but myself to worry about but all of a sudden I worry about how my apartment was going to look like when I got back, I worry about a dude named Aizen who I never met and even worried about what a stranger who only entered my life a few days ago thought of me.

Sighing, I left the apartment building, thinking on all those silly philosophical things I said to Ulquiorra yesterday. Love makes humans stronger and more developed? Solitude is scary? Geez, what was going through my head these days? And not only that, why was I also beginning to find trust in Ulquiorra's words about how being surrounded by people _does _make you softer? I never thought such things before…

Anyway, when I got to my car, I got startled when I… sensed something – something that was coming closer and closer at an insanely fast pace! My heart rate quickened and I felt the need to jump into the safety of my car and quickly. Hurriedly taking out my keys with shaking hands, I put it in the keyhole and turned it as fast as I could. Just as I was about to open the door, a hand came from behind me and closed the car door on me. Wide-eyed with a bead of sweat rolling down my temple, I realized quickly my assailant was familiar to me:

Grimmjow.

He seemed to find amusement in my reaction, seeing as he smirked down at my form, "Surprised to see me here, I see…,"

"Wh-what do you want?" I demanded searching for a way to escape if I needed, but found none. Grimmjow had carefully blocked my easiest escape route with his hand which was still pressed against my car door. I could only pray he wasn't planning on doing anything horrible to me possibly on Aizen's orders.

"Come now, what's with the demanding tone? I'm not here to hurt you…," He sneakily looked at me, "…yet…!" As soon as he said that word, I immediately tried to make a break for the opposite side where his hand was on my car which flopped quickly because his free arm shot out like a whip grabbing me harshly by my arm.

"Ow! Let me go!" I squealed pathetically, as tears formed in the corners of my eyes. Was he going to kill me? I looked over to the apartment building, wanting Ulquiorra to come and intervene again, but I was _outside_, there was no way he could see _or _hear was what going on. Grimmjow effortlessly dragged me toward him, a winning grin on his cocky face.

"Don't worry, bitch, you're not going to _die_. I have some more cruel and… _provoking_ things in mind. But, it will only get worse if you fight me." Grimmjow compromised, squeezing his grip on my arm, "Do I make myself clear?"

I nodded pitifully, "Y-yes, I understand."

"Good." Grimmjow said, lifting me off my feet and threw me over his shoulder, taking me away.


	6. Chapter 6 Grimmjow vs Ulquiorra

Grimmjow threw me to the floor harshly of an old warehouse of some sort. With a rope he found on the floor, Grimmjow pulled me roughly toward a nearby pole that supported the ceiling and tied my wrists to it, making the ropes dig into my skin and rendering my escape impossible.

Finally, I built up the courage to ask the intimidating, blue-haired man, "Why have you taken me here? What purpose does this hold?"

"There's no need to worry your pretty little head over _that_." Grimmjow replied casually, sitting down on a nearby crate and crossing his leg over his knee, "You're just bait and bait doesn't need to know what it's purpose is because if it knew, it wouldn't be very… appetizing." His grin my direction caused me to flinch in disgust. Though, I couldn't stop myself from asking further.

"Whom exactly am I luring in? I doubt anyone of high standing would come for me, you know." I told him as a matter-of-fact. Yet, that proved to be a stupid thing to say because Grimmjow quickly got cross with me.

"Stupid woman! Obviously I mean Ulquiorra!" He shouted, but lowered his voice when he added, "Why else would I have taken _you _of all people if it were anyone else? Ulquiorra has no other relationships with anyone else, not including us Espada besides you – and you are the most vulnerable, so you were also the smartest choice."

That caused me to furrow my eyebrows, "Me? You think kidnapping _me _would cause Ulquiorra to confront you?" I couldn't hold back a scoff in time before it turned into hysterical laughter.

"What's so funny? You don't think he'll come for you?" Grimmjow asked.

"Of course not." I sighed after that bout of laughter, "If anything, he'd leave me and go back to this Hueco Mundo or something instead of looking for _me._"

"You'd be surprised at how little you actually know about Ulquiorra – even _I _don't know him all too hot, if you wanted to know the truth." Grimmjow told me, leaning his fist on his cheek contemplatively, "But I _do _know that if he shows any ounce of loyalty to someone it means he'll be loyal to the very end, for some reason. For you, that means that even though he's _forced _to protect you, he will come to your aid regardless, as he had demonstrated a few days ago."

"Ulquiorra… he would… come for me…?" I whispered so it was for my ears only. I got horny again, thinking of him coming to my rescue, but quickly discarded the thought – in my head, I had imagined that he actually _wanted _to come and take me out of here… but, he'd probably just come, beat the crap out of Grimmjow, then force me to go back home without an ounce of emotion on his face. That was the least stimulating thought ever.

"What would make him even more agitated, I think, would be if I sliced you up a bit." Grimmjow suddenly burst through my thoughts, grabbing the hilt of his sword while menacingly making his way toward me. Instinctively, I flinched back, away from him, but didn't get anywhere seeing as I was still tied to the pole.

"G… get away from me! Don't touch me!" I warned, but soon he had his blade drawn and was inches away from me. I struggled against my bonds, but the rope was thick. Wide-eyed, I turned to the menacing Grimmjow, looking at a reflection of myself in the cruel steel. Tears burned in the corner of my eyes as I pleaded, "Don't…,"

"Although I'm not the type of guy to do this kind of thing to a helpless woman, today I'm making a slight exception." Grimmjow 'comforted' me, as he placed the sword up to my neck, so close that I could feel the coldness of the steel, "Now be a good girl and scream nice and loud so Ulquiorra will find us sooner – for your sake."

With that, Grimmjow took his terrifying blade and put the end of it on my cheek and punctured my flesh. I winced since it was almost like I got pricked by a needle. When I proved to him that I could handle that level of pain well, with the blade still in my cheek, he trailed it down toward my lips. I gasped in pain, grinding my teeth together to put up with it.

"Scream. Go ahead, I know you want to." Grimmjow taunted, pressing the blade further into my skin. I grunted, but refused to scream – I couldn't; there was no point. Ulquiorra wouldn't come for me… I meant nothing to him…

Grimmjow twisted the sword in my flesh just as he took it out as well. I could feel blood trickle down from the wound as I bit down hard on my lip as stinging pain erupted in that area. When cutting my face didn't elicit a scream from me, he moved his sword to my shoulder and poked there. A dull pain caused me to close my eye in concentration in an attempt to not cry out as it got worse and worse every second he pressed the blade harder into my body.

I choked out a small scream as he broke through my flesh. This caused Grimmjow to grin and so he pressed it in faster when he noticed his method was working. I felt the steel scrape against a bone in my body as it progressed and I found myself unable to hold back to my screams no longer. I let out the cry I was holding back which made Grimmjow laugh.

"That's right, scream out in pain, you useless human bitch! Scream loud enough for loyal servant Ulquiorra to hear and reveal to him how terribly unsuited he is at being the Fourth Espada if he can't even keep you from being harmed!" He laughed, cutting through my flesh relentlessly as I just shouted in pain louder with every passing moment. Tears streamed down my eyes and some were falling into my fresh cut on my face, stinging it with its saltiness. What on Earth did I do to deserve this? Why did this have to happen to me of all people?!

Finally, Grimmjow figured he dug his sword deep enough and ripped his sword back out of my shoulder, causing me to shout out in pain until it was completely removed. I huffed laboriously from screaming so much from having a sword pierce my body, but Grimmjow wasn't quite done it seemed because he brought his foot down upon my shoulder wound and kicked at it again and again. I grunted with every blow, feeling myself move in an awkward way since my hands were still tied. My already paining wound flared to life with even more excruciating pain than before.

"Why have you stopped screaming?!" Grimmjow yelled, obviously not pleased that I had ceased. When I didn't reply even though I really _couldn't_ due to the fact that he was kicking my open wound, Grimmjow kicked me in the side of the head, which made me slam into the pole I was tied to.

I felt stickiness in my hair as blackness slowly crept into my vision. I hoped I would slip into blissful unconsciousness, but I was harshly dragged out of it when Grimmjow grabbed a lock of my hair and dragged me back to reality, "Now, now, I didn't say you could fall unconscious." Grimmjow told me in a low voice, "Though, by this point – no matter how much you scream – Ulquiorra probably won't be able to even recognize you by the time he _does _get here. I swear he's such a–,"

"What am I, Grimmjow?" A familiar, uncaring voice interrupted, cauing my hair to suddenly be released and I fell to the floor weakly in a very awkward position. I forced my head up to see none other than Ulquiorra standing there at the entrance of the warehouse, his hand in his pockets. As I thought, he was the least stimulating rescuer ever – he didn't even look in my direction.

Grimmjow grinned sinisterly, turning around, "So I was right to say you'd come for this human."

"For the time being, until she gains enough funds, she is my so-called 'Mistress'." Ulquiorra told him quietly, stepping in closer.

"When did you notice she disappeared?" Grimmjow asked preparing himself for a fight. I admit, I really wanted to know Ulquiorra's answer to that, but I didn't say anything. I just waited.

"The moment you took her." He answered. Grimmjow wavered at that answer – but Ulquiorra elaborated, "You took her in broad daylight, when she had to be somewhere. When I did not hear the roar of that noisy engine I knew something was amiss. There were only two possibly scenarios, she had been taken or killed by Lord Aizen; or she had been taken by you. The choice between the two was obvious – Lord Aizen does not want this girl nor does he need her dead. That left you."

"You filthy bastard…," Grimmjow muttered, "Oh well, it doesn't matter when you came – but I _did _want to slice this woman up some more, though…,"

"You'll do no such thing. You wanted to force me into fighting you for 4th seat, am I correct?" Ulquiorra went for his own sword, drawing it out of its sheath, but no fight broke out yet, thankfully. If they did begin fighting, I'd like to at least get out of the way before that happened.

"That's the only reason I brought her here, I suppose, but her pain intolerance is hilarious – especially when she tried _not _to scream because she though you wouldn't come for her and there was no point." Grimmjow told him, sending the attention drifting to me, even though I didn't want it to. Blushing, I put my head down in shame – why'd he have to tell Ulquiorra _that _part anyway?! That was dreadfully embarrassing!

"Is that supposed to provoke me? If so, then it's a weak provocation." Ulquiorra seemed to raise his sword a little higher, but it was hard to tell from where I was.

"Hmm…," Grimmjow looked as if he noticed something but he didn't say what, "…no, that wasn't meant to provoke you, it was to make you realize how unreliable you are!" Before I could blink, Grimmjow vanished and appeared in front of Ulquiorra in an instant. With two hands on the hilt, he brought his sword down upon Ulquiorra who blocked the blow in time, only one hand on his sword and the other in his pocket. Ulquiorra threw Grimmjow off his sword, but Grimmjow regained his footing and landed on upright quickly.

"How can you call me 'unreliable' when you are going against Lord Aizen's wishes and attacking me in the World of the Living?" Ulquiorra asked when Grimmjow wasn't up in his face attacking him.

Grinding his teeth in anger, Grimmjow barked, "Shut up!" Once again, Grimmjow flew at Ulquiorra but didn't lock blades with him this time and slashed like a wild man at Ulquiorra. This caused Ulquiorra to fall back with every attack by Grimmjow, but he still blocked every attack, "When I told Lord AIzen about you serving some human girl he got angry at _me _for not successfully bringing you back! How is it _you _are let off, but I get chewed?! Huh?! That's why… that's why I have to defeat you! If you aren't around, Lord Aizen can't favor you and I rise up as 4th seat!" Grimmjow suddenly stopped his onslaught of attacks and kicked Ulquiorra harshly on the side, launching him into a pile of crates.

Without hesitation, Ulquiorra got out of the rubble, looking a bit dirty, but luckily unhurt, "So this is what is behind all this. How pitiful that I'm the one who has to calm you out of your temper tantrum." This set Grimmjow off even more because he disappeared again and reappeared in front of Ulquiorra, his sword bearing down on him without remorse. Under those eyes of Grimmjow's would I have crumbled – they were so wild with fury, he didn't seem to notice anything else around him.

Ulquiorra seemed to see right through his attacks because soon after being under those fury of attacks, he managed to find an opening and he quickly slashed at Grimmjow's midsection. Grimmjow jumped away just before the attack could have been fatal and all that came from Ulquiorra's attack was a little scratch on his abs. Still, it was deep enough to bleed quite quickly on its own.

Of course, it didn't stop Grimmjow in the slightest because he took two crates that were beside him and tossed them Ulquiorra's way. Easily, Ulquiorra slashed the two of them and they fell behind him, but Grimmjow used that as a distraction to close the distance in between them. Just as Ulquiorra had sliced the second, Grimmjow already had his blade ready right behind it. Ulquiorra leaned back when Grimmjow had taken a swing of his sword at him; his sword tip had only barely cut Ulquiorra's shirt, opening the top half of it where I saw something black on his chest. I couldn't quite see what it was from where I was, but I decided to discard the thought as Ulquiorra took a few steps back from Grimmjow.

While he had some distance in between himself and Grimmjow, Ulquiorra stuck out two of his fingers and pointed them at Grimmjow. He waited, his stance staying the same and Grimmjow seemed to anticipate something to happen as well, but there was nothing. I blinked at this scene, wondering why they seemed to expect something magnificent to happen when Ulquiorra had his fingers out in front of him like that. It just rather silly, if you asked me.

Grimmjow cackled a laugh, "Now I see that you really _can't _use your Cero, Ulquiorra!" Getting into a stance again, Grimmjow grinned wildly, "That means this will be an easy fight."

"Will it? If I cannot use my Cero or any of these abilities, than that should mean you can't either." Ulquiorra replied, which seemed to be a challenge to Grimmjow. He took his blade with one hand and, holding it so the flat of the blade was facing him, he took his free hand, set it on the bottom part of the blade and then swiped it up to the pointed end.

"Grind, Pantera!" He yelled… but nothing happened. I waited for something like to fall out of the ceiling and land on Ulquiorra's head or whatever, but not even than happened. Grimmjow extended his arm out and looked at his blade in disbelief, "What the hell?! Why isn't it–?!"

"Looks like I'm not the only one, as I said earlier." Ulquiorra said, as if he was confirming something. Snarling at Ulquiorra, Grimmjow got provoked into attacking Ulquiorra again. He tried to catch him off guard, but Ulquiorra was ready for him and received the blow Grimmjow delivered by bringing his sword up to block the attack. Like he was sweeping dust under a rug, Ulquiorra tossed him away. Though, it seemed Grimmjow wasn't going to be thrown away that easily because he dug his nails into the floor, which caused the tiles that lined the floor to come up with him trying to stop himself from sliding away. Once he had successfully dropped his speed down, Grimmjow pounced back into the fight and soared after Ulquiorra who was ready to react depending on the situation in a moment's notice.

"_Die, Ulquiorra_!" Grimmjow yelled, but before he could bring his sword down on Ulquiorra again, something stopped him. Or rather… some_one_. Holding onto Grimmjow's blade with his bare hands stood a tall man in similar white clothes and short brown hair that was slicked back save for one lock that went between his hazel eyes. Upon recognizing his presence, the air seemed to push down on me so hard I couldn't say upright at all especially with my shoulder wound. Grimmjow also felt this pressure it seemed because even he fell to his knees in front of the mysterious man. Ulquiorra seemed to bear this pressure uncomfortably as well.

Soon, the pressure weakened and I could get back up again but not without struggling just as the man began to speak, "Really now, Grimmjow – first failing your mission to bring Ulquiorra back and now this?" He shook his head mockingly as he got down to Grimmjow's level and murmured just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, "I'm disappointed."


	7. Chapter 7 Saved by Aizen?

That was the first time I had ever seen someone such as Grimmjow – a heartless, cruel man – have terror written plainly in his green eyes. Just seconds ago he was engaged furiously in a fight with Ulquiorra, but as soon as this brown-haired, somewhat intimidating man came in suddenly, silence enveloped the room. Since I didn't have any attention on myself, I watched on, the scene seeming to get darker and darker.

_Who _is _this man? _I wondered to myself, a cold bead of sweat breaking out on my temple. _Could this be… could this person be… Aizen…? Great! Just who I needed!_

"What do you have to say for yourself, Grimmjow?" The brown-haired man asked belittlingly. The blue haired man lowered his head, not the shame as I could see that his teeth were clenched tightly as if he wanted to say something, but knew that if he did, he would be punished harshly, "Do I need to remove your arm again, because you seemed to behave a great deal better if it's gone. Tell me, Grimmjow – do I need to do that to you?"

Begrudgingly, Grimmjow spat back, "No… Lord Aizen…," If I was scared before, I was now by one hundred times. Tough old Grimmjow was on his knees, being told that if he didn't 'behave' he would – casually, might I add – have his arm removed. It was as if he was talking about a tooth, Aizen's demeanor was that calm… which was frightening even though it didn't feel as though I would be, which kind of doesn't make sense really, but in a weird way, it does.

"Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra spoke up suddenly. The big man half-turned toward him as if to suggest he wasn't finished with Grimmjow yet, but would listen to Ulquiorra nonetheless, "You don't come to the World of the Living often, even if conflicts arise such as this. Is there a special occasion going on?"

"Nothing special. I just came to confirm something." Aizen replied, but it was at that moment when he turned to look at me with those narrow eyes of his. I felt a definite chill go down my spine as he slightly smirked in my direction, as if he knew something that I didn't. Whatever it was, though, I _really _did _not _want to know, "So this is the girl you were referring to the other day, Grimmjow. Keiko, was it? I do deeply apologize for this… _incident_, as it were."

I was shocked. Despite his intimidating exterior, he was actually quite… polite? I couldn't really put my finger on the word, but it was… in between irksome and relieving, "N-no… well, um… it is… how do I put this? It was all so… sudden, is all. And adding getting sliced up in to the mix is not all too pleasant, either." When I said that, I noticed that Grimmjow, still on his knees, turned my way fiercely. I tried not to make eye contact with anyone, least of all Grimmjow, because I was severely starting to feel uncomfortable. Being bound with these guys in the room, I'd like to think anyone would be.

"I assume it wouldn't." Aizen walked toward me, but seemed to lose his menacing demeanor and exchanged it with a softer look. I flinched when he made it over to me, nonetheless, and he knelt before me; when he didn't make a move, I began to slowly inch back. When I did, Aizen began to untie the rope around my wrists without saying a word. While he did that, I studied his face meticulously to get a sense of what he may be thinking. There was… nothing; well, nothing written on his face that would be threatening to me anyway. Right now, all his actions toward me had been gently and soothing – not at all what I thought he would do when I stayed up worried about him coming for me all night. Wow, what a waste of sleeping time when Aizen wasn't even that kind of guy! Geez!

As soon as I was free, I rubbed my chaffed wrists gingerly and soon afterward got to my feet along with Aizen. Right then I had no idea of what I should do now that I was freed because I firstly had no clue of where I was or how to get back home and secondly, I did not know what was going to happen right in front of me.

Aizen answered this unspoken question when all of a suddenly a hole in the air appeared from out of nowhere and he said, "Grimmjow we're returning to Hueco Mundo. Now." The blue haired man reluctantly got to his feet, shoved his hands in his pockets and went over to where Aizen was. Ulquiorra, on the other hand, stayed where he was. As Grimmjow got in the hole of darkness, Aizen turned to Ulquiorra, "I need you to stay here and continue doing what you're doing. Keep observing and keep me updated on your health, Ulquiorra." With that, he stepped into the hole and behind him, it closed as though it ate the both of them.

That certainly was a… normal exit. It's like every day you just see another person jumping into a random hole in the air – _not_. I was so shocked and confused that I didn't even see Ulquiorra come up beside me, "Mistress Fukui, do you wish to return to the apartment now?"

"You know… that would be wonderful." I said after getting out of my delirium, but then paused, wondering about Aizen's words to Ulquiorra, "Wait. What did that Aizen dude mean about 'keep observing'? Wasn't the reason he sent Grimmjow here was to take you back to this Hueco Mundo place? Why didn't he just ask you to go with him?"

"You ask too many questions." Ulquiorra simply stated, "Aren't you just glad you came out of this with your life?" When he said that, a hurricane of emotions came spilling out of me: Sadness, worry, fright and anxiety; all at once they came out as tears. I threw my arms around the unsuspecting Ulquiorra and pretty much strangled him.

"Yes…! Yes I _am _glad I am still alive…!" I blubbered embarrassingly. I didn't care if I was making a fool of myself in front of him, I was just so relieved that this was over, "Th-thank you…! If it wasn't for you, I'd… I'd…,"

"Cease your crying." Ulquiorra snapped, "There's no more cause for tears. Let's get out of here so we can treat those injuries of yours." Ulquiorra had to basically peel me off of him in order to get me to start wiping my eyes off. I sniffled as I did so and looked at the expectant Ulquiorra.

"OK… I'm ready, I think." I told him with a jagged smile. Without a single word, Ulquiorra suddenly took my hand and dragged me behind him which surprised me greatly. Despite how he fought Grimmjow: Fiercely and unwaveringly, his hand was very… gentle… soft and even warm. I looked at his back as I followed behind him. Was this really the same man as back then? For some reason or another, there was something… I don't know – _different _about him. The difference may not be significant but it's definitely there… just days before he probably would not have taken my hand, but here he was, my hand in his, dragging me behind him.

He must have noticed my eyes on his back because once we had left the shade of the warehouse and into the sunny outdoors, he turned around, "Is there any particular reason you're staring at me?" I was caught – I blushed, looking down.

"Well… no… but, um… I just…," I decided not to play coy and just say what I wanted to say to him. I looked him in the eye and said, "I just wanted to formally thank you – I know you hate those words, but I just wanted to thank you for this and for everything else. I don't care if you think humans are annoying and that I irritate you and I don't even care that you did it all out of duty! I'm just so goddamn grateful to you, OK?! I'm… I'm…," Tears began to form in the corners of my eyes again. I tried dabbing at them to halt them, but no matter how many I caught, more fell down. I couldn't believe I was crying _again_, but I felt so emotional from all the events that just happened that I couldn't help myself. It made me feel guilty for doing this in front of the uncaring Ulquiorra, but… but…

Just as I was standing there, rubbing my eyes with the heel of my hands, I felt something warm wrap around me. Surprised, I looked up, noticing that Ulquiorra had put his arms around me. The tears seemed to stop instantaneously as I blushed and looked down at our feet.

"Wh-what are you…?" I finally mustered the courage to say. I certainly was right to say he changed dramatically these past few days: Day one, he couldn't cook and he couldn't care less about anything I did or said. Now… he was holding my hand and holding me in his arms… what caused him to make such a huge change?

"This is what humans do to comfort one another, is it not?" Ulquiorra asked and I could feel every vibration he made when he spoke. He also smelled really… nice; like he had Axe on or something, "I figured it would be a fast method to make you stop crying so we can move on."

I laughed slightly, "You really know how to charm a woman, don't you? …but, I guess it _is _a faster method; I _am _feeling a lot better, Ulquiorra." With that, he suddenly let go of me and put his hands in his pockets again. When he let go, I couldn't help but want back in his arms again. It's crazy but that's what I wanted then.

"If that's the case, then let's head back now." He said, proceeding to go back to the apartment. I had to sprint to catch up to his side. I looked down at his hands, wanting to hold that strong, warm hand again, but decided against it. I probably couldn't get away with that twice.

Instead, I looked up at the sky and saw the clouds rolling lazily across the everlasting azure canopy. A breeze went through my blood-matted hair and I honestly was… happy with my decision of making Ulquiorra my man-servant. Just maybe an hour ago, I was starting to feel the opposite way when Grimmjow was beating me up – but now… even though he broke my window, he nearly destroyed my kitchen, let Grimmjow into my apartment who later became my inquisitor, got me terrified for no reason of a man named Aizen and made for the worst rescuer of my fantasies ever… he made up for it by somehow making me horny for him anyway.


	8. Chapter 8 Intimacy?

You know what I hope you never have to go through that I had to go through? I mean, _besides_ getting kidnapped and getting cut up. I hope you never have to go through town with a busted head with a really odd looking man in front of you. Though no one seemed to pay any attention to Ulquiorra, they certainly kept their eyes on me. I could only hope no one called the cops or an ambulance because I couldn't really explain what happened to me – nor did I want to.

'What happened to you, Miss?'

'Oh, you know, some guy named Grimmjow who is from an alternate dimension called Hueco Mundo kidnapped me and beat me up in an old warehouse. But it's cool now, my man-servant Ulquiorra Cifer came and fought him just before their Master, Aizen, came. He stopped the fight short, threatened to tear Grimmjow's arm off and took him back to Hueco Mundo.'

If I didn't receive an odd reaction from that, I would have to question what planet I was on.

Luckily, no one called anyone because we safely managed to get to my apartment. As I sat down wearily on my cheap couch, Ulquiorra raced to the bathroom where I heard the water being drawn. I smiled to myself and closed my eyes… It just hit me – this exhaustion; but it was really nice to have Ulquiorra around who didn't just sit with his thumbs up his ass and wait for me to tell him what to do. He was, as Grimmjow said, a very loyal guy, even when he didn't have to be and once again, I found myself incredibly grateful to him.

Though, while I was sitting there on the couch, it suddenly hit me that I failed to go to work again today. Straining myself due to my open shoulder and head wound, I walked over to the phone, where I noticed I had three missed calls. Wow, was I popular or what? Unsurprisingly, both the first and the second were from Bunkichi, doubtless saying, 'Where are you?! You've got a shift today!' But when I looked at the third missed call, my eyes widened.

It was a call from my parents.

Quickly, I turned on the voice message and heard my mother's voice say, "Hello, Keiko. I know this call is a little sudden, but your father and I just wanted to know how you were doing. We both have tomorrow off so if you could call us back and let us know if you're available, we can arrange for a visit. Love you! Bye now!"

I stared at the phone for the longest time after the message ended, my mind went blank. Mom and dad… were… coming over here…? Immediately, my thoughts went to lying and saying I was busy, but knowing my parents' busy schedule, we'd probably not see each other for a long time and I already haven't seen them in a long time… but how would they handle seeing Ulquiorra around the apartment?! Would they think I was into guys like Ulquiorra?! It wasn't even like that! He was just paying his due to me – argh, but they'd _never_ accept something like _that_! What should I do?!

"Is something amiss, Mistress Fukui?" Ulquiorra's quiet voice asked behind me, scaring the trash out of me. I grabbed onto his shoulder with one hand and showed him the phone with the other.

"This! My parents want to come over but I don't want to say no to them and I don't want them to think I'm a freak if they see you around! I don't know what to do!" I yelled, but afterward felt lightheaded due to my loss of blood, but Ulquiorra caught me before I fell to the ground.

"There is no cause for panic, your parents won't be able to see me anyway." He replied, helping me to stand upright again.

I blinked at him in confusion, "Won't be able to see you? Why not?"

"Did you forget my first words to you? I asked if you could see me as not all humans can see me, but for some reason, you can." Ulquiorra informed me.

"Wait! So does that mean that you're another hallucination of mine?! Wonderful! It looks like they followed me even here! I wonder if the neighbors think I'm insane or something because they know I'm the only one living here; would the landlord kick me out?! Should I pack my bags in case they come knocking on my door with a shrink doctor? Perhaps I should go back to–," I began, but Ulquiorra cut me off impatiently.

"Can you describe to me these 'hallucinations'? Perhaps I can put an explanation to them. Here, let us sit down." Ulquiorra went over to the couch calmly which inspired me to lower the panic level. I went over to him after a few deep breaths and sat down next to him.

"Good idea. All right, so as I explained earlier, the hallucinations began after the car accident that wintery day. First I started hearing these noises… they kind of sounded like bears or dinosaurs in those Prehistoric movies. Then, I started seeing these… _creatures _– I don't know how to begin to describe them… a lot of them were large… and they always looked as though they had these white, boney masks on and… oh, yes… a hole somewhere on their bodies. They were always different in appearance – sometimes they were bird-like, other times human-like and so forth. I dodged most of them all my life so far, luckily… and no one believed me if I saw one of them, even if it was destroying an entire buildings. It was as if… as if they were more real than the people around me…," I paused, thinking back to the time when I saw of those creatures… it had looked a lot like… but then I snapped back to reality, laughing at myself, "But listen to me go on, you must think I'm crazy or something!"

Ulquiorra shook his head, intriguing me into staring at him to hear what he had to say, "No, I don't. That's because these creatures you just described… they're called Hollows – creatures that consume human souls to survive. I, too, can see these things, but ordinary humans cannot." He looked at me, "But there is no explanation as to why you can see both us Espada and Hollows. I'm afraid the only thing I can confirm to you is that the creatures you see are not hallucinations. They're very real."

"So wait!" A sudden thought hitting me, "Grimmjow was talking about these 'Hollows' the other day… he said that Arrancars are… Hollows, too…," I looked at Ulquiorra nervously, "…you're not going to destroy any buildings… are you?"

"Of course not. There's a difference between them and us: Intelligence. We are more developed and therefore higher above them." Ulquiorra explained.

"So… Baldwin _was _going somewhere with that evolution theory…," I paused, trailing off in thought about how his theory didn't just stop with human evolution until Ulquiorra broke through my thoughts.

"Aren't you going to tell your parents about visiting?" Ulquiorra asked. Startled out of my thoughts, I picked up the phone immediately and redialed the number. While I did that, Ulquiorra went over to the kitchen and grabbed the cookbook. Looking at him, it caused me to imagine my parents coming over tomorrow and freaking out about how the dishes and ingredients were flying through the air while I just sit back and snicker because I know I can see Ulquiorra making dinner and they couldn't.

"Hello?" My mother's voice on the phone said.

"Hi, Mom! It's Keiko; I got your message and, uh…," I turned to Ulquiorra for a second, hoping they truly _couldn't_ see him before I continued, "…and I am available tomorrow. The part-timers take over on Saturdays and Sundays. So you and dad can come on over!"

"Oh, that's great dear, but – I couldn't help but notice over the phone… are you sick? You sound different." My mother commented.

I was taken by surprise by that, but then coughed, "Um… yeah, just a little frog is all." I didn't want to tell her that my voice was hoarse from screaming as I was getting beat up!

"Are you sure? Take care of yourself, honey." My mother told me just as I heard a loud crashing of a bunch of pans. Glaring over at Ulquiorra who calmly picked up the mess he made, my mother gasped, "What was that?!"

"No-nothing, Mom! Just making dinner!" I lied quickly, going over to help pick them up to make the lie sound half-believable to my nosy mother as much as I could through the phone.

"Dinner? It's barely even noon!" My mother laughed, but you could tell she sounded slightly confused and concerned. Great, I just ruined _that _for myself. Mom's going to do a full inspection of the apartment when she gets here… which means a speck of dust will arouse her suspicions that something _might _be amiss.

"Did I say dinner? I meant brunch! It's been a… rough day already." I laughed back falsely which didn't convince my mother at all.

"Don't you work today? Is your cough bad enough that you had to take a day off?" She asked.

_OK, you can stop asking questions now, Mom…!_ I thought in my head angrily, but coughed and then said aloud, "Y-yeah… um… Bunkichi had a doctor's appointment and just decided to close the shop today." _Which reminds me, I have to make another phone call._

"Oh… all right…," She still didn't sound too convinced.

"I have someone else on the line, sorry, Mom – I'll see you tomorrow." I suddenly said before she could say anything else.

"All right, we'll be over at around twelve o'clock. See you then!" Mom said. I murmured my goodbye and hung up on her. I set the phone on my lap and sighed in distress. Mom's going to be all over this place worse than a terrible rash. One slip up and I won't hear the end of it. _Ugh_.

But then I sucked it up long enough to phone Bunkichi. I just told him that unexpectedly an urgent 'family matter' came up and I couldn't get to the phone. Luckily, he was cool with it and just said that in order to make up for it, I had to make up my eight lost hours through overtime or coming in earlier. Though, he warned that if I did this again then he'd have to get… 'Serious'. I didn't know what he meant by that, but I just thanked him and went on my way.

Tossing the phone on the coffee table, I let out a deep long sigh, "Well, that's over with… for now…,"

"Mistress Fukui. I have drawn the water in the oval-shaped tub for you to bathe in and get all the blood washed off." Ulquiorra called, reminding me that I still looked like I just got out of a torture house. You'd think that with this giant head wound and this shoulder injury I would remember it but with so much going on at once, I couldn't stay focused on just one thing, no matter how painful it was.

"Oh, yeah – I almost forgot!" I quickly jumped to my feet and immediately went into the bathroom. I left the water too long it seemed because it was only lukewarm, but I was content that the tub was at least full. Although, as much as I wanted to dive in, I struggled getting myself undressed due to my shoulder wound. Every time I stretched it in an odd way to peel my bloody clothes off it would start flaring up. It was as Grimmjow said – my pain intolerance was laughable. I kept screeching worse than when Grimmjow sliced me up (only because I was in the sanctity of my own home and not in front of some strange person). I quickly became frustrated with myself and wanted to get these darn clothes off of me already, so, denying the pain I lifted my shirt up and…

"Do you require my assistance?" Ulquiorra asked behind me as the door slammed open. I stared at him wide-eyed as my mid-section was exposed and quickly pulled my shirt back down.

"Flipping heck, Ulquiorra! If you're going to come in here, at least knock first!" I shouted, burning the color red with annoyance.

"Why would I need to do that when it was obvious from your screaming that you needed some form of help?"Ulquiorra wondered, stepping in closer to me, "It's the wounds you have that's preventing you from getting in the tub, is it not?"

"Y-yes, but I can take my own clothes off just fine, thank you!" I retorted, a nervousness settling in my stomach. Geez, what is _with _this guy?! Didn't he understand the concept of privacy?!

"Then show me." He challenged.

My jaw dropped, "Show you?! What, do you think I'm some kind of stripper?! Well, I'm not giving you any 'show', you kinky jerk!"

"Kinky? It's nothing of the sort – you need to wash yourself before I can even think of treating your wounds." Ulquiorra explained calmly as if he had done this several times before.

"Yes and I can do this by myself." I reiterated.

"Yes and I need you to prove this to me." Ulquiorra insisted, "As your 'man-servant', is it not within my duty to see to it that I assist you whenever and however you need it?" I quieted down, looking at Ulquiorra wondering how it was at all possible for him to say something like _that _with such a straight face. Especially with the addition of 'however' in that sentence – he sounded horny but at the same time he _didn't._

"All right, fine. I'll prove it to you." I told him, but not in as firm of voice as I wanted it to be. With that, I reached for my shirt again and pulled it upwards, wincing in pain. I didn't face Ulquiorra as I did this in case I lost my resolve to do so. The pain was beginning to be next to unbearable as I moved my arms upward to get the shirt over my head and it only got worse and worse. By the time it got over my head and off my body I felt like I was on fire – though it was _very _relieving to get my arms back down to my sides.

Sighing, I said to him in just my jeans and my bra, "There, you see? I can do it myself."

"But very slowly." Ulquiorra pointed out, "Though, I will allow you to get undressed for the moment but I will be back to wash you."

"God! What's with you today?! You'd never do this _normally_ – what the hell is causing you to be so pushy? If I can get undressed myself, I can bathe myself!" I accidentally blew up.

Ulquiorra went quiet, but my words didn't seem to faze him, "As you wish. I shall go back to preparing the food." And, this time around, without so much as one more word, Ulquiorra left the bathroom. Geez, what a moody guy – one moment he's trying to take my clothes off no matter what I said and now he obediently goes away to finish making the food? Couldn't he just make up his mind? Wait, scratch that – I'm glad he decided to just let me bathe myself or otherwise it would have gotten very awkward very fast.

When I got out of my clothes and into the tub, I was in so much pain that I had to drop myself in the lukewarm water. That allowed some water to splash up on the floor, but I couldn't care _less_ – this water stung my wounds when I laid in it, but in a very good way. I watched as the hue of the water quickly turned a reddish-brown from the blood being washed off of my body. It was so satisfying, watching the blood fade out in the clear water – it was like I was getting rid of the bad memories that just happened and starting off clean like the water off a duck's back.

Though, while I was soaking in the tub, I thought about how Ulquiorra was being so pushy. Why did he want to strip me so badly that he wouldn't believe me that I could undress myself? He can't feel anything 'romantic', can he? Arrancars are different from humans… aren't they? Do they reproduce like us? Do they have girlfriends or boyfriends? I must say, though, if they didn't, then Ulquiorra's charming good looks were put to waste. I furrowed my brow when that thought came into my head. I thought Ulquiorra was attractive? How? Sure, I got horny a lot when he obeys me and when he rescued me earlier today, but I never thought I would think of him _romantically_. He had milky skin, thick black make-up, he was thin…

…but he had those eyes.

Those jade green eyes, so piercing, so tempting, so brooding, so reflective, so… sexy. Ugh, those unfair eyes of his; I wish he would never take those eyes off of me – God! It sounds like I'm in love with him or something! Keiko, he's not going to love you – he seems to be the independent type who don't need nobody. Perhaps I should develop that persona as well.

Still, I can't help but laugh at myself… one slightly 'intimate' moment with him and I think I'm in love – Oh, Lord, help me!


	9. Chapter 9 Meeting the Parents

I checked myself over and over, slid my finger over the table to check for dust and made sure Ulquiorra had prepared a nice meal for when my parents came over. My palms were sweating and anxiety was coursing through my veins thicker than my own blood. Ulquiorra didn't help to calm my nerves as he continued to do his thing as I paced around in a circle, nearly burning a hole through the floor. It was difficult, but I believed at this moment that everything was as perfect as it was going to get. But knowing my mother there was going to be some form of misapply where she'll suspect something.

"Do I look like I haven't gone through hell and back?" I finally succumbed to my anxieties and asked Ulquiorra. I knew that, even though he had treated my wounds by stitching up my shoulder wound (which I tried to cover with my clothes) and stitched up my face (which was being covered by an impressive twenty-five bandaids), I still looked like I was the lone survivor of a horrible train wreck, which was not a bad lie to have made up for my parents because I know they would notice right away.

"A little less than yesterday, but otherwise still pretty well the same." Ulquiorra told me after briefly glancing in my direction.

"_Thanks_." I muttered sarcastically. It was then that I heard the dreaded buzzer sound. My heart dropped to my stomach, but I pressed the button to let them in. I began to panic, "Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man – they're here, they're here! Is everything ready? The food? Do you think they'll want coffee right away? Should I offer it to them first? What if I mess it up? Oh man, I can hear their footsteps! Ah–!"

"Cease that senseless racket, if they're your parents, wouldn't they be glad to at least see you today?" Ulquiorra snapped.

"Yeah, but these are _my _parents – they need to see that everything is perfect or else they won't believe that I'm all right living here by myself!" I protested just as the door slammed open. I turned around and saw my astonished parents standing in the doorway.

"Keiko, who are you talking to?" My mother immediately asked. Wow, not even a 'Hi' – just jumping right to the questions. Typical mom, "Oh my! What happened to you?! You look like a wreck!" Also a typical mom moment – asking one question and immediately rushing to another.

"Nothing serious… just, um, a little accident while snow-shoeing." I quickly lied, not using the lie I was previously going to use to make it sound a little more believable. My parents must have taken my answer as a 'Come on in!' because they wandered inside, taking a gander at everything. I noticed that my dad stared straight at the kitchen – directly at Ulquiorra, might I add – which was beginning to frighten me. Could dad… see him somehow? Then Ulquiorra _lied _to me!

"Oh, honey, this place is spotless!" My mother suddenly distracted both myself and dad, "This isn't like you, even when it's _us _coming over. Did something change? Oh!" My mother, even though she asked a question I was just about to lie to answer to, ran over to the broken window with the tarp taped to it and the blanket over top that, "What happened here?!"

Annoyed that I forgot to prepare a false explanation for _that, _I quickly made it up on the spot, "Oh, yeah, that. Some of the neighbour's kids thought it'd be funny to play baseball with large chunks of ice and one got fired right at the window." I was proud of my lying abilities at this point. It takes a lot of quick thinking to come up with a half-believable lie when you got your head kicked into a pole.

"Goodness! That's quite the pitch! I hope you're getting some money in for the damages." My mother exclaimed in that motherly concern voice.

"Neighbour's kids, huh…?" My dad muttered to himself. I took this moment to just look at my parents. Everything about them was polar opposite: Dad had short black hair, which I inherited, whereas mom had shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair. Dad had green eyes and my mother had brown eyes which I got from her. Mom was very short and my dad was tall; my dad preferred jackets, my mom preferred sweaters, etc. It didn't just stop at the physical – but it also was their personalities: Mom freaks out at the news of my window getting busted by the neighbour's kids whereas dad just kind of mutters to himself as if he didn't believe my story. Dad was very quiet and serious and mom was bubbly and nosy. I sometimes wonder if the blend of such polar opposites was the product of my personality being so wacko.

"Ye-yeah… some kids, huh?" I laughed falsely. Then I gestured to the couches before sitting down on it, "So, want to talk? I'm curious to know how you two are doing."

"Oh, we're doing wonderful, Keiko! Thank you for asking." Mom said as she took a seat next to me and dad took the chair on the opposite side of me, "Actually, we have something to ask _you_ about." The sudden seriousness of her voice caught me off guard.

I chuckled under the sudden heavy atmosphere, trying to make the situation light, "Wh-what...? Are you pregnant again? Are you going to have a baby at forty-five and am I going to be a sister at twenty?"

"You think we can't see him?" My dad asked me suddenly, which caused my eyes to widen and my heart begin to race.

"See…," I trailed of, my eyes darting around, "…who?"

"The man in the kitchen, of course!" Mom said, pointing directly at Ulquiorra. He turned over with an interested look on his face. I furrowed my brows as mom and dad both looked directly at him. Mom continued, whispering, "Is he your boyfriend? He's kind of strange-looking…,"

"Ah – um! I'm in the mood for coffee! Do you two want coffee?" I jumped to my feet and raced over to the kitchen before I received their answer. Hissing to Ulquiorra, I said, "What. The. Actual. _Fuck_?! I thought you said they couldn't see you!"

"I admit, I cannot answer that question." Ulquiorra responded calmly. I grabbed onto his collar fiercely with both fists, frustrated with his nonchalant nature.

"Well, you'd have better come up with an explanation in the next five minutes or I'm going to skin your milky hide and staple it to my wall as a monument to this day!" I growled lowly, putting on my angry face. Now that they know Ulquiorra's here, I was seriously never going to hear the end of questions mom was going to ask! The embarrassment… why did they have to find out _this _way!?

"Keiko? Is everything all right?" Mom asked from in the living room.

I let go of Ulquiorra's collar and smiled back at her, "Y-yup… everything's fine!" I fumbled to put the coffee into the machine with shaking hands. Trying to calm myself down, I whispered to Ulquiorra while not making eye contact to make it look to my parents that everything is normal, "What do we do? They're going to want to meet you now that they know you're here."

"Then we should make up a story of some kind." Ulquiorra silently said back.

"Like what?! I've just lied to my parents more than I ever have in my whole life! I don't think I can handle this much longer!" I whined, putting the coffee funnel into the machine and began to pour the water into the side.

"Just leave this to me." He said, which caused me to get confused from how much confidence it exuded. As I turned around to face him to see what kind of expression was on his face to get an idea of what he was going to do (not that I expected much) he suddenly reached and grabbed my hand. Surprised, I soon found myself being dragged beside him into the living room where he sat down next to me in the middle of my parents who stared at him strangely. I also looked at him this way – considering the fact that he still didn't release my hand even as we sat down.

"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Fukui. My name is Ulquiorra and I am Keiko's lover." He said so professionally and so smoothly that I nearly missed that last part. My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to speak, but I quickly closed it with red coating my cheeks. This must have been that 'story' he was talking about. I never thought of him the type to say something as outrageous as _that_… no matter what the situation. Though, I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Keiko's lover? Well, she certainly never mentioned you." My mom commented, an eyebrow raised in confusion. I looked at my dad who was just glaring right at Ulquiorra, his expression getting darker and darker the longer I stared at it.

"We only had gotten together recently. If I know Keiko, she must have been wanting to keep it a secret for when you came over to visit." Ulquiorra responded coolly. I was impressed; not only was he believable, but he sounded like he truly knew me, like a lover would. I blushed, looking down at our connected hands reminding myself that it was just a story and it meant nothing.

"Where are you from? A name like 'Ul-Korra' isn't common." My dad asked suspiciously.

"It's Ulquiorra. And I come from a foreign country called Hueco Mundo." My 'lover' told my dad quickly as if he had a script right in front of him. It was funny how he was able to make his lie truthful at the same time – he _was _from Hueco Mundo, but he made it sound as if it were an actual place on Earth.

"Hueco Mundo? Is that in Mexico? Are you a Mexican?" My mother wondered, fascinated. If there was any culture my mom liked, it was Mexican. If you looked at our living room back at home, you'd see sombreros on shelves, Mexican-styled rugs, you name it. I don't know where her liking to Mexican culture came from, but it was certainly helpful right now – even if Ulquiorra didn't look in the slightest Mexican.

"Indeed. My family and I came to Karakura Town when I was fourteen." Ulquiorra replied.

"And are you now living with Keiko?" My dad asked before mom could delve into further questions about Mexico and other things that Ulquiorra probably wouldn't be able to answer as firmly as he had been these past few questions.

"Yes. I was a reoccurring customer at her work and we eventually grew fond of each other. After some time, she asked me to live with her and I consented." Ulquiorra answered.

"Do you have a job?" My dad basically demanded, which my mom and I quickly picked up on. He was going into 'overprotective dad' mode again. Ever since I was a little girl, dad was the one who looked after me the most because mom's job wasn't as lenient with maternity leave as dad's job was and she had to go back to work soon after my birth. Dad eventually became very protective over me even as I got older to the point where I didn't want to even _think _about bringing boys home in fear for them. Yet, when it came to their decision to make me go off on my own to 'learn about the world' he was all for it; probably because he thought he spoiled me too much in my youth.

"I'm looking for a job currently." Ulquiorra lied.

"How are you living here without being able to pay rent?" My dad asked, "You are paying rent, aren't you?" Ulquiorra stared at my dad long and hard after he had said this, as if they were sharing an argument through their eyes alone. I looked over at mom, who looked prepared to step in and say something if things got out of hand.

"I am paying the rent by doing the chores around here." Ulquiorra finally answered.

"How is _that _going to support Keiko in the long run?" My dad shot back.

"Katashi…," Mom whispered, but apparently my dad didn't hear her because he didn't move his head or even his eyes an inch away from Ulquiorra.

"I cannot help the current job situation. I am doing what I can for her." Ulquiorra replied calmly. I bit my lip as I looked over at dad who still looked like he didn't want to acknowledge Ulquiorra as my supposed 'lover' at all. I guess I can't entirely blame him – dad only figured out his existence about a few minutes ago and he claims to be my lover.

"I don't approve of you dating my daughter." My dad finally came out and said what he probably had been wanting to say since figuring out about Ulquiorra. My mom was about to say something about that, but closed her mouth quickly. No doubt she had been thinking the exact same thing, but didn't have the guts that dad had to say it outright, "I don't care if my daughter likes you in all your circus-clothes and make-up and I don't care how you may actually feel about her. I don't believe you'll be able to keep her happy and I don't believe you're the right man for her. I think you should just walk out of her life right now before I have to force you out of her life. I suggest–,"

"Dad!" I accidentally blurted out, unable to keep quiet any longer. Both mom and dad looked at me with confusion as I got my hand out of Ulquiorra's and wrapped my arms around him protectively and placed my head on his chest, "I'm twenty years old – I'm old enough to choose who I want to be with!"

"But Keiko–," Dad was about to protest.

"I love him, Dad!" I shouted, burning the color red, hoping Ulquiorra was still taking this as a story to explain to my parents why he was here. My dad's eyes widened with surprise at the 'conviction' in my voice. Even I was surprised at how… forcefully I said that; like I was a terrific actress or I actually meant it. Hopefully the former, so I could make a career out of it.

"No matter how much you love him, you have to be realistic about your choice, Keiko." My dad replied to that after recovering from his surprise, a serious 'no-more-of-this-nonsense' tone, "If you date a man such as _this _– not to mention _marry –_ you won't get a good enough income for a family. Think about it for a minute: He doesn't have a job; which means you'll be forced to be the only source of income."

"But…," I was about to protest, but Ulquiorra took over for me.

"I promise you, sir. I will do everything in my power to help with anything Mistress… Keiko might need. Actually, it is because of _her _that I wanted to get a job in the first place. It is because of her that I do anything at all around the apartment. She is my motivation. I wouldn't ever turn my back to her." Ulquiorra told him, sneaking his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him to show to my dad how 'serious' he was about what he just said.

Before my dad could reply, my mom, with tears forming in the corners of her eyes, said, "Oh my goodness! How beautiful! You must really love our daughter, don't you, Ulquiorra?"

"Yes. I do indeed." Ulquiorra nodded to her. This caused me to blush brightly in the face. Leave it to my mom to get all mushy over something like this. She had always been a chick-flick sort of girl and add a so-called 'Mexican' into the picture she was pretty much sold, even though she was probably thinking the same as dad just a few minutes ago. My mom was pretty easy to convince because she believed anything you said as long as it sounded half-believable. My dad on the other hand…

"Tomoko! You don't believe this man is actually suited for our Keiko!" My dad protested.

"Why shouldn't I? We heard what he'd do for Keiko and we heard how Keiko feels about him. What's there left to say?" My mom asked, which quieted my dad right down and caused me to smile faintly at her. My mom… even though she thought Ulquiorra was 'strange-looking', she was soon bought over by our words. It kind of made me feel bad, but there was another unexpected feeling along with it: Relief.

"I suppose I can see that… but I still can't accept it!" My dad stubbornly said.

"Don't worry, Keiko and Ulquiorra, he will… in time!" My mom laughed, ignoring him. I laughed along with her, but a sudden fluttering feeling came into my stomach. It kind of felt like I just got permission to date Ulquiorra… which was strange knowing the circumstances. He was only my man-servant, nothing more nothing less. Yet, why did it make me so unspeakably happy? Did I actually want to date this man? I know from yesterday in the tub that I thought he was attractive, but then how did I know that it actually was love? Sure, I blurted out my 'love' for him, but that didn't mean anything to him. I looked up at Ulquiorra and stared into his uncaring jade eyes… I think it was at that moment that I had begun to develop feelings for him.


	10. Chapter 10 The Surprise (Part I)

Thankfully, yesterday evening with my parents turned out to be a success. We enjoyed talking over some coffee and my parents liked the meal that Ulquiorra had been preparing for us. Um… that is, my mom enjoyed the meal; my dad was still being stubborn and not accepting Ulquiorra at all. That was to be expected, but not the part where he basically insulted Ulquiorra every chance he got and glared at him when Ulquiorra spoke. My mom would chide him to smarten up and be friendly toward Ulquiorra, but he didn't listen one bit. Though, Ulquiorra took this abuse patiently, in fact he impressively didn't even bat a single eye at my dad's offenses.

That night had gone so successfully, in fact that I slept like a baby that night. When I woke up on Sunday morning, though, I noticed that Ulquiorra hadn't started breakfast yet. I wandered into the living room where he was sitting down in the couch with his hands in his pockets, staring out one of the non-broken windows. As soon as I came in, he stood and faced me, "You're finally awake. I was waiting to alert you to the fact that there is no food in the usual places." That certainly woke me up instantly.

"No food?!" I exclaimed, rushing over to the kitchen where I looked into the fridge and saw that there was little to nothing in there. My jaw dropped, "What?! Why didn't you tell me when it was beginning to get low?"

"Yesterday I could still make enough meals for us; so I thought it unnecessary." Ulquiorra replied.

Face-palming, I muttered, "Great, I guess going shopping is now on my list of things to do today. And on a Sunday too. Ugh." Though I was pleasantly surprised when Ulquiorra came up to me and passed me a list of things written down on a piece of paper.

"I have already made a list of the items we need to supply ourselves with." Ulquiorra told me which I nodded at while looking down at the list. Indeed, on the list were things that we would need – which I was surprised he knew because he hadn't probably made a shopping list before either, "And, Mistress Fukui, I must ask if you would take me with you on this trip for food."

I stared at him, putting the list to my side, "Take you? Why do you want to come?"

"There are some extra things I wish for you to purchase that are not on this list." Ulquiorra told me, his voice and his facial expressions not betraying him like always. I must admit, I was curious as to what he wanted to get, but I shrugged it off. Whatever it was, as long as it wasn't too expensive and too unnecessary, I was fine with getting it.

"Sure. Just give me a chance to get changed and have something to eat." I told him. Quickly throwing on a casual outfit that consisted of a thick grey sweater and black skinny jeans and throwing a piece of toast in the toaster, we were soon on our way. Though, while we were about to leave the sanctity of my apartment, I turned to him a sudden thought coming into my head and asked, "Hold on. If my parents could see you, then does that mean other people besides me can see you, too?"

Ulquiorra thought about this for a moment, "A very good question: I do not know. But I suggest we'd better prepare for it in case other humans can see me." I smiled at him greasily, a sudden thought coming in my head as soon as he said that.

"In that case, we have to change that outfit of yours." I replied. I pushed him into my room and threw some clothes out of my closet, trying to find some masculine clothes I might have had for him to wear. Suddenly, I came upon a black long sleeved shirt that I bought on a whim, but realized too late that it was a little too short on me. I placed it against Ulquiorra and saw that it seemed to fit him perfectly. I laughed, "It's a good thing you're a little shorter than me, otherwise this would have been a little more trouble than it's worth!"

Ulquiorra said nothing as I soon went to find some pants for him. I found in the very back of my closet, an old pair of dark baggy jeans that I hadn't worn in a long time but loved when I was in high school. Together, we decided to leave his shoes alone because all I had were either high-heels or really girly shoes that wouldn't match the rest of his outfit. There was only one thing left… and that was a hat: He couldn't have that silly white helmet on while wandering grocery stores! Looking around, we decided to try on a whole bunch of hats like an old beret of mine, but that didn't cover it adequately enough. We also tried a fedora my dad had given me as a parting gift for when I moved out but that was way too big on him because it covered his eyes. Finally, the only thing we could settle on was a toque that had a cow's face on it, complete with cow's ears coming off the top and everything.

By the time he was finished changing, I found myself snorting at him. The shirt's sleeves were covering his hands and the pants were so baggy that he had to tie two belts around it. The hat, though, was the best part – he looked like a child trying to wear an adult's clothing. He had a hint of annoyance in his voice when he asked, "What's so funny?"

"No-nothing…!" I paused to hold back a laugh.

I had choked back the rest of my laughter as we left the apartment and walked down to my car. I unlocked the door for him to get into the passenger's seat, which was a strange feeling for me. It had been forever since I let anyone inside of my car with me. Even before I had moved out, it had been my parents that I allowed in my car only – but this time it was my so-called 'man-servant' who wasn't even human. It was really weird when I thought about it.

When we had gotten out of the parking lot and onto the road, I looked over at Ulquiorra and asked, "So… Ulquiorra, what did you think of my parents last night?"

"They were very human." He responded, lifting up his large sleeves.

"Whatever that means…," I murmured, but then specified, "But that's not what I was getting at. What did you think… of them? Like, how do I put this…?" Geez, I was getting nervous about this all of a sudden. I know I had been thinking about the whole 'my-parents-meeting-Ulquiorra' thing all night before I fell asleep, but I had been curious about one thing the entire time: What did Ulquiorra think about them in regards to… my mom approving of us and my dad disapproving of us? Well, at least, what they thought they knew about our relationship. Goodness gracious! That sounds so confusing!

"Are you referring to how your parents may view our supposed relationship?" Ulquiorra wondered, hitting the nail right on the head. I was relieved that he just figured it out rather than me having to say it outright. Though the addition of the word 'supposed' really hurt me, as much as I hated to admit it. He was right though, it was only 'supposed' – there was no way there was ever going to be anything between us, so I nodded.

"Yeah; what do you think about that?" I asked, for once glad I hit a red light so I could face Ulquiorra as I slowed down to a stop. He didn't say anything for a minute, nor did he even look at me. It seemed there was something intriguing outside the car that I didn't know about because he was staring very intently.

"I don't have any thoughts on it." Ulquiorra replied quite cruelly, but then he added, "But… I suspect that there's a purpose for such a question." Finally, he turned to me and stared me straight in the eyes when he continued with, "And from that, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy what I have planned for you when we return, Mistress Fukui."

My eyes widened as I stared back at those jade eyes, wondering and searching for an answer to the million questions that were floating in my head in those eyes of his. It would seem that he stole all my words because I couldn't find anything to say besides making some noises in my throat that sounded like I was choking. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I find my words? Did he do something to me?

Only when I heard a car horn honk did I snap back to reality. I pressed on the gas when I noticed that the person behind me wanted me to move since we had the green. Though, I wasn't about to let Ulquiorra off with that when I asked, "Wh-what do you mean by that?"

"You will soon find out." He told me.

"How cruel. Dropping me a hint like that when you don't plan on giving me the details." I frowned, "And while I'm firing questions at you, I might as well get this one out of the way already: You have been acting really different lately – why is that? I mean, you hugging me, trying to strip me and now having something planned for me. Is this, like, a twisted plan to try to drop all the man-servant duties by being devilishly considerate? If so, it's not going to work."

Ulquiorra's eyes dropped down to his lap. He was quiet for some time, as if trying to come up with the answer himself. Then, he quietly said, "It's no such plan at all. I fear that I have grown comfortable around you, is all. I suppose… that this is what humans refer to as 'you rubbing off on me'."

"Me rubbing off on you…?" I repeated bemused.

"Indeed. Your carefree personality is quite… contagious. It has made me do some outrageous things thus far, including what I have planned for you. Never before have I been exposed to someone like you." He lifted up his head and turned to me, but I tried to focus on driving even though my heart was hammering in my chest, "It's different."

I chuckled nervously and asked, "A good sort of different or bad? Because I completely understand if it's the latter. People often say that about me."

"No; I find it a good change from what I had experienced before all this." Ulquiorra shook his head which surprised me – something he had been doing often. Lately, Ulquiorra, who I thought was going to be the most stale man-servant ever after I had that terrible morning when he first made breakfast, turned out to be a very intriguing person. Every time I thought I had him figured out, he would say or do something I wouldn't have expected him to in a million years. Was I ever going to figure out this mysterious person who had crashed into my window a few days ago?

"How so?" I wondered curiously.

"I am not quite sure about that myself. All I know is that the life I had before I met you was… nothing like it is now. I lived and would die for Lord Aizen, but… all of that has changed; I suppose I have you to blame for that." Ulquiorra responded, sounding dismal.

"Oh, so this is the blame game now, is it?" I tried to lighten up the situation, but Ulquiorra didn't reply to that. I quieted down which left the car in an uncomfortable silence. From what I did know about Ulquiorra, him saying that his life is nothing like how it was – most likely empty or fighting-filled – was probably a derogatory thing. Though, he had said that it was a good change… did he mean that he did not want his life to be changed for the better? Had I, in that sense, ruined his life? My heart sank into my stomach; I had been so glad to have him around to help with the chores that I didn't think about what I might be doing to his life. He must hate me…

By the time we arrived at the grocery store, we still weren't talking to each other. Ulquiorra got out of the car and wandered out ahead of me. I just watched his back for the longest time, worried about how he might be feeling – assuming he did feel. His face didn't reveal anything, but who knew what was going on in that head of his? I sprinted up to catch up to him.

Soon, we had gotten all the groceries that Ulquiorra had put down on the list and those 'extra' things he wanted to get. All he got were a bunch of flowers which I purchased for cheap in the grocery store since they also had some flowers there too for sale. Though, I had to admit, I was very curious as to why he had gotten flowers of all things – still, I didn't ask. We were still pretty awkward around each other, not talking much unless we had to. I seriously wanted some sort of super power that gave me the ability to see into his head to see what it was that he had planned and what he was thinking this very moment. It tore at me to have him not talking to me.

When we approached the door to my apartment and I unlocked the door, Ulquiorra quickly grabbed my hand that was going for the doorknob. I blinked at him, wondering why he had done that when he suddenly said, "Stay here for a moment."

"O-Okay…," I murmured, wondering where he was going with this. He grabbed all the groceries that I had purchased and took them inside the apartment. I stayed where I was, wondering if this was the 'surprise' he was mentioning earlier. I began to hear movement and rattling inside my apartment and, even though I was curious, I stayed where I was. A smile began to creep onto my lips, if he still wanted to do this maybe he wasn't too mad at me; and for that, I was glad. For some reason, I couldn't bear it when he was angry with me – like that day when I was kidnapped and we had that fight. That part of me wanted to apologize to him, but I wanted more to hear him apologize to me first. Boy was I stubborn, or what?

Finally, the noises stopped, so I asked, "Is it all right if I came in now?"

"Yes. Come in, Mistress Fukui." Ulquiorra's quiet voice sounded from inside. Slightly shaking, I pushed the door opened to see the room darkened, save for the light of a few candles here and there. My jaw dropped when I saw the flowers that we had gotten were in a vase on the table and a meal set there ready for two. I looked over at Ulquiorra who had gotten out of my clothes and was back in his own. He was standing right there, in the middle of the room, his hands in his pockets with the song 'Choom (Dance)' by CLAZZIQUAI playing softly in the background.

"Wh-what is all this?" I asked, still looking around.

"I had read from one of the magazines you had laid out in the bathroom that in order to get a woman's attention, you had to do something like this for them." Ulquiorra replied so honestly, it was literally hilarious.

"Well, you have my attention all right. What is this about?" I asked going over to the food that he had prepared and noticed that it must have been made at least yesterday because it was cool from the refrigerator.

"Dance with me." Ulquiorra boldly said.


	11. Chapter 11 The Surprise (Part II)

"E-excuse me?!" I demanded, burning the color red. Ulquiorra took this moment to step closer to me so close that I could feel the heat coming off his body. I looked directly into his jade eyes which wasn't a very good idea because he soon got me entranced in them.

"I had prepared this for you before you had gotten the call from your parents, but it had to be postponed until now." UIquiorra explained, "Though, I suppose in a way that encounter with your parents only fuelled my drive to do this for you. I told you that you had changed my life for the better during the ride to the store… and I still don't know whether or not that's a good thing for me. Yet, right now the only thing I know is that I want you to trust me."

If I was red before, I was probably now redder than a beet, "Wh-why do you want me to… trust you? And how is dancing with me at all gaining my trust?"

"Also in the magazine, it said that the way to gain a woman's affections, one needed to do something that would cause them to be excited; and I guessed right when I thought dancing with you would get you intrigued." Ulquiorra looked down at my face which I soon hid from him with my hands. He continued on as if nothing was going on, "And as for the reason I need you to trust me… let's just say, that it's a personal reason."

"P-personal?!" I exclaimed, getting my face out from my hands to stare at him incredulously. He grabbed onto my wrists and placed them down to my sides gently as he once more stared at my eyes. Darn it, he wasn't being fair at all! How dare he use that charm of his to make me want to kiss him right then and there!

"Mistress Fukui, answer me this one question: If I dance with you, will you promise to trust me?" Ulquiorra asked me, bringing his face closer to mine. I shyly moved my eyes away from his green ones, biting my lip. Inside, I wanted to scream so loud that I would break my already-broken window. This was invasive! This wasn't at all a part of his man servant duties – then why was he doing this? There was no reason behind it; but it was making me feel so good… Ack! Seriously, what was he trying to do to me?!

"Um… sure…," I answered.

He grabbed my chin and made me face him, "Look me in the eyes and say that again." I got so flushed that I could feel the tips of my ears begin to get really warm. Here he was, one hand in mine and the other settled on my chin gingerly. Did I make him so comfortable that he wanted to flirt with me? Was he… was this his way of showing his affections for me? Had he… really grown fond of me during his time here as I had for him? Did that conversation with my parents calling ourselves a couple to them cause him to overreact and think that we were already a couple? My head was spinning.

"Y-yes… yes, I will trust you… Ulquiorra." I responded, feeling as though I was in a romance novel and was having that first moment with my Prince Charming. Yet, this Prince Charming never wore a smile, nor a frown on his face; which was kind of a disappointment – but I soon found myself being quite all right with that.

As soon as I said those words, Ulquiorra released my chin and placed his hand around my waist. I jumped a little in surprise from the sudden touch – I never danced with someone like this before so the feeling was new to me. Ulquiorra must have picked up on this because he said, "Relax."

"I-I'm trying…," I murmured, but it didn't come out quite like I planned. It sounded more like I was ashamed of myself for getting so twitchy when he touched me rather than complaining about him telling me to calm myself when the situation made it impossible to.

Taking a deep breath, I settled into Ulquiorra's arms when he took his other hand and laced it through my fingers. I allowed him to sail me across the floor in a dance; I was clumsy at first, stumbling over my feet for the first few steps but then got the hang of it quickly. Ulquiorra didn't mind me messing up as he just causally waltzed around the room like it was nothing. My heart pounded in my chest as I stared up at him, wondering where he learned to dance like that. Certainly I didn't own any 'How to Waltz' books around here, nor any magazines. Perhaps this was just something he knew for no reason. There was so many things I wanted to ask him, but they were all things I didn't know how to say at that moment. It was just too perfect – us just dancing in the middle of my apartment – that I didn't want to interrupt it by speaking.

The music in the background was so perfect to the mood that I nearly cried. The soft flow of the instruments and the silky vocals just blew me away. Ulquiorra really knew how to plan a surprise – but all this just to get me to trust him? Wasn't this a little much? I mean, I trusted him in my apartment alone and I trusted him with my chores – what more did he want from me and why? I couldn't help but think that perhaps this was all a ploy of some kind. Maybe not to get out of the duties I placed on him as my man servant, but maybe something else… something more convoluted…

That thought immediately was thrown out of my head when he pressed himself up against me even closer than I thought was humanly possible before twirling me around. Was this all a dream? I thought as I came back to him and pressed my chest against his. Am I still asleep and my childish dreams of Ulquiorra and I being together coming to me during my sleep? Ulquiorra must have saw the curiosity in my eyes because he took me by my waist and lifted me up above his head, my feet dangling in the air. Well, if this is a dream, don't wake me up!

When Ulquiorra brought me back down to the floor, he finally broke the silence, "In the magazine, it also said that to catch a woman's affections, one also needed to know more about them. I suggest this applies to trust as well."

"Are you saying you want to know more about me?" I asked, butterflies in my stomach.

"Indeed I am." Ulquiorra replied.

"Um… well… I, um… I really don't know where to begin." I shrugged.

"Start with something simple. For example, what your likes and dislikes are." Ulquiorra pressed, which caused me to pause before saying anything. This sudden surprise… and this sudden want for me to trust him… and now wanting to get to know me… did he really like me? More than being a friend? No, Keiko, he's just doing something nice for you. That's all; for goodness sake, don't get ahead of yourself, foolish girl!

"Well… I like the color red. I like cats better than dogs…," I continued on with a list of things that I liked and disliked until I pretty much exhausted every category… save for one. I looked up at Ulquiorra who seemed to be paying close attention to me. Finally, I blurted out, "And I like you."

His eyes widened a little when I said that, "You… like me?"

"Yeah, I mean… um… god…," I blushed again, "I don't mean that I like like you – just, I guess, I appreciate you. Yes, that's it. I really appreciate you keeping your word to be my man servant." I felt like kicking myself for saying something so stupid like 'I like you' – way to give the wrong impression, wow! Way to go, Keiko! You probably scared the poor boy off!

"I see." Ulquiorra stopped the dance short, suddenly just standing before me with my hands in his. I stared at him curiously, noticing that his eyes were looking very distant so suddenly. Finally, when the song changed, Ulquiorra seemed to snap out of his trance. He looked at me, "I…,"

His sudden loss of words caused me to cock my head to the side, "Yes?"

"I have somewhere to take you." Ulquiorra said forcefully. My eyes widened as his hands clenched tightly over mine, almost to the point where it hurt me. I didn't protest though because I was too nervous about what he meant by 'somewhere to take' me. Did he want to take me out… as in a date? All his actions had been pointing to something like this. Yet, was the reason he was hesitant because I told him I just appreciated his services? Was he able to feel something romantic after all and I just squelched his desire to take me somewhere?

"Like where?" I wondered, but he just took my hand and dragged me to the door.

"…you'll see." He simply said. With that, Ulquiorra allowed me to grab my coat and my shoes while he waited somewhat distractedly. I couldn't help but keep my eye on him because of his strange behaviour, but I decided not to say anything. I had told him that I would trust him if he danced with me and, since he kept his word about being my man servant, I decided to keep mine.

When we had made it out of the apartment, Ulquiorra skipped by the car which made me wonder if where he wanted to take me was nearby. Hopefully within walking distance because I didn't want to walk for too long in this winter weather. I decided to get it out of my system and ask, "Hey, is this place that you want to take me far?" It took him awhile to answer, like his thoughts right now where overpowering his mind and my words didn't register right away.

"No, it's only a few more minutes." Ulquiorra replied. Suddenly, he stopped so short that I bumped right into his back. He turned around halfway to face me, "Mistress Fukui, you do trust me, don't you?"

I stared at him blankly for a moment, but then replied with, "I said I would, didn't I?" Ulquiorra didn't say anything to that when he quietly looked down at the gravel underneath our feet and only nodded once. We pressed on in silence.

Finally, we made it to the spot where Ulquiorra wanted to take me – which was an empty snow-covered football field. The area was so quiet that I could probably make an echo easily; there was no cars around, only a school that was empty because all the children were on winter break. I looked up at the grey sky and saw that it was beginning to snow gently. I caught one of the snowflakes and was suddenly reminded of that day when Ulquiorra and I shared our philosophical thoughts.

"Hey, doesn't this make you think of–," I began, turning back to Ulquiorra who was sullen. Well, more sullen than usual. I furrowed my brows when I looked at him, "Ulquiorra… what's going on? You've been acting strange all day."

He turned to me, tight-lipped when a giant black tear in the air appeared behind him. It scared me so bad that I fell down on my bottom just as a man came out of the black thing. My heart was racing… that brown hair and that calmly menacing demeanor… there was no mistaking it – that was Aizen! The big man looked triumphantly at my quivering form, "Good work, Ulquiorra; you successfully led her here without arousing her suspicions."

Breathing heavily, I looked at Ulquiorra in disbelief, "What…?"

Ulquiorra enlightened me, "Soon after I arrived at your apartment and I became your 'man-servant', Lord Aizen had figured out where I was. Though, the state of my health had intrigued him, so he sent Grimmjow to get some more insight on the situation. After Grimmjow's confirmation of how I couldn't use my Cero or my Resurrección, Lord Aizen figured that it had to do something with you."

"And I was right." Aizen stepped in, coming closer to me, "I dug a little into your background history that was in the archives of Soul Society which I was able to easily infiltrate. I found that you had an accident nine years ago, which caused you to be close to death. That near-death experience caused you to develop the power to disrupt the flow of reishi within an unidentified radius of you – thus making spiritual beings like us unable to use our powers. I figured that if I could get a hold of such powers and harness it for our use, then no adversary would be able to defy me, no matter how powerful they are."

Even though I didn't understand a lot of what Aizen just said, I understood enough to turn to Ulquiorra with hurt plainly written in my eyes, "You mean… all that stuff about trusting you was…?"

"It was all a ploy created by Lord Aizen to get you away from everyone and get you to follow me here." Ulquiorra finished for me. It was as if I could hear my heart shatter inside my chest. Holding my hand… hugging me… telling me all those things about growing comfortable around me… the dance we just shared… it was all a lie? He just wanted me to trust him to hand me over to Aizen so he could use whatever 'powers' I might have for his own purposes? How could he? How could he be so heartless?

Aizen pulled me out of my thoughts by tugging on my arm roughly, "Indeed. Therefore, your powers are now mine to use – don't even think of resisting, little girl." Tears burned in my eyes and the will to fight Aizen disappeared before even appearing.

Aizen pulled me to my feet and dragged me toward the large black hole in the air, but just before we entered it, I turned over to Ulquiorra who refused to meet with my eyes. All this time… it was nothing but an act. I couldn't believe this – he disgusted me; but even more than that, I was disgusted with myself. I couldn't believe that I actually was beginning to like him… I couldn't believe that I actually trusted him. I should have known that he had something planned, but why didn't I listen to my instincts? Why didn't I see this coming? It was so obvious now that I thought about it – the sudden wanting me to trust him, the sudden compliments and the sudden niceness: It all occurred after he had saved me from Grimmjow – the exact same time Aizen made his first appearance. It was probably during that time when Aizen told Ulquiorra about what he was planning. After all, he did say 'keep observing' to Ulquiorra – which was probably his orders to have Ulquiorra spy on me and the development of my so-called 'powers'.

Soon, I chose to stare at the ground instead of the man who had betrayed me. Ulquiorra was right about one thing and one thing alone: If you are alone, no one is there to threaten your life; or, in this case if you are alone, there is no one around to crush your heart in an instant.

And in that moment, I wished I hadn't even met Ulquiorra that night those few days ago.


	12. Chapter 12 Still your Man Servant

I was thrown to the floor into a room of pure white. My fall echoed throughout the empty room and I could feel my body weaken considerably when the pain in my shoulder came back to life. I could hear footsteps behind me and that drove me to get up before I got walked all over by the two behind me. Struggling to even get to my knees, my arms quivered and the pain worsened with each passing second I tried to support myself. The footsteps behind me stopped suddenly and I felt a sharp tug on my hair.

"Get to your feet, girl." It was Aizen who said this. My heart hammered in my chest as I quickly ignored my paining shoulder and forced myself to stand. Though, I found it difficult because I was just so scared, weak and angry that I just fell back down on the floor.

When I relaxed on the floor, I wasn't left alone for long when I received a sharp kick to my ribs, sending me rolling across the floor like I was hit by a car. I cried out in pain as I stopped just before a flight of stairs and tears stung in my eyes as the pain came alive in my ribs as well as my shoulder. No matter how much Aizen abused me, though, he couldn't hurt me worse than what Ulquiorra already did. Thinking of him again, I glared at him from the ground, noticing that he wasn't even looking at me – his eyes were closed. I seriously wanted to rush over there and tear those stupid eyes that caught me off guard out of his skull. Yet, in the state I was in, I could barely stand let alone do something like that.

Aizen came over to where he kicked me and grabbed me by my neck. I clawed at his fingers to try and get them off to allow me to breathe better, but to no avail. He looked at me without any compassion, "You are to be a tool used for my purposes and mine alone. If I tell you to stand, you will stand."

A sudden flare of disobedience flowed through my veins as I shot back, "I don't recall… consenting to this…!" Aizen didn't like this seeing as he brought his other hand up and slapped me right across the face. I was lucky that he didn't hit the side with all the bandaids on it, but still, it still stung worse than any other kind of pain I had experienced.

"I will not tolerate this kind of behavior." Aizen told me as if he was my dad or something.

"Well, get used to… it. I'm not… I'm not going to be… your 'tool'!" I choked out, but that didn't win me any Aizen points because he dropped me from his grip and I fell to the floor, limp. He stomped his foot on my shoulder wound so hard I could hear the stitches that Ulquiorra had put in snapping apart. I screamed in pain, but Aizen covered my mouth to shut me up.

"I don't believe you understand your situation." Aizen murmured to me, looking down his nose at me, "Whether you like it or not, you're going to be my tool. Perhaps beating you senseless will get that through to you – or perhaps threatening those around you will." I stared at him with fearful curiosity in my eyes, which amused him. A smirk played on his lips, "Does that strike you? I can summon Hollows any time I wish and command them to attack those precious to you. Like that old bookkeeper?" Aizen seemed thoughtful for a moment then he continued, "Yes… just like the old bookkeeper – who has a secret that even he himself doesn't know about."

I couldn't communicate this to Aizen, but I was dreadfully confused. What did he mean by 'a secret even Bunkichi doesn't know about'? It was true that he was blind and couldn't tell his left from his right, but what did that have to do with Aizen threatening him? Wasn't the fact that he was threatening him alone enough to scare me into obeying him? Why did he have to go this far and tell me something that I wouldn't even want to know about?

Aizen's smile grew, "Oh yes, you don't know it either, do you? His daughter's death? That was the same person who was in the accident but was the only one who tragically died nine years ago."

This information hit me like a ton of bricks. The person in the car who died… was Bunkichi's daughter? I had absolutely no idea – Bunkichi didn't like talking about her death as it was much too painful for him. Guilt then tore at me next… I had survived the accident where his daughter didn't and yet I flaunted that in front of him without even knowing about it. All those times when he compared me to his dead daughter… little did he know that it was because of that accident we were both caught in made it basically like I took her life…

"To add to that…," Aizen continued, "Her soul was transformed into a Hollow after she died. She was kept here, in Hueco Mundo, and little did I even know how useful she was going to turn out. For you, Keiko, that means if you resist me then I shall send the old bookkeeper's daughter out to kill her own father." He came closer to me, so close that I could feel his breath on my face. I closed my eyes and winced, expecting him to hurt me again, but thankfully he didn't, "You wouldn't want that… would you?"

I shook my head as quickly as I was able to. Of course I didn't want that to happen to Bunkichi – sure I didn't know him that great, but I still didn't want him to get hurt, by his own daughter no less, because of me! When I showed that I was basically agreeing to his terms, Aizen got up and released me. Doing my best to get to my feet, I heard Aizen say, "Ulquiorra, take her to her room."

Just hearing his voice caused me to quiver in anger, "Yes, Lord Aizen."

By the time I got to my feet, Aizen had already left the room and it was just Ulquiorra and I. I didn't want to look at him, even now; he sickened me. He was the one who brought me to this place and made me a tool for Aizen's use. It caused me to wonder why Aizen suddenly got so hostile when he had showed kindness to me when I was tied up in the warehouse? Perhaps that was also a scheme of his to get me to trust him, even in the slightest. As soon as I got here, though, that instantly changed.

"Let's go." Ulquiorra told me softly, turning away from me, leading me to where my room was. I begrudgingly followed behind him. While I did that, I stared directly at his back with so much anger that I didn't even think that I had that kind of capacity to do so. My hatred for him was building up by the seconds as all I could find myself thinking was him communicating to Aizen all my secrets and any development my powers had on his health. I imagined him thinking to himself while he took my hands and snuck his dirty hand around my waist when we danced 'It's only for Lord Aizen, it's only for Lord Aizen…'. How tragic it must have been for him to have to deal with me while pretending to like me when all of it was a lie.

The white halls of wherever we were seemed to stretch on forever, but I didn't care. It gave me more time to think about how much I hated that jerk in front of me. The idiot that I thought I had begun to like. How could I have possibly thought that?! I mean, the stupid moron couldn't even feel anything – therefore, he wouldn't know how it would make me feel if he decided to step on my heart right in front of me! What an idiot I was! Tears stung in my eyes again, but I rubbed them away with frustration. No, I wasn't going to cry; not while he was here – if I showed him any sort of weakness, then he would have the sense that he won against me. I can't let him have that satisfaction.

Though, trying to hold back my tears and all the anger that was welling up inside of me caused my legs to go limp. I tried to focus on the back of Ulquiorra's stupid head to try and keep myself stable which proved to work a little. Though, he surprised me when he suddenly turned around halfway to look at me, still walking. I furrowed my brows at him, giving him my best angry face. He wasn't going to get me again with those jade eyes. I wouldn't let him.

Ulquiorra suddenly stopped so he could fully turn to me. I stopped dead in my tracks, not wanting to get caught off guard by him again, but my light-headedness was going to make that difficult for me. Finally, Ulquiorra broke the silence between us when he asked, "Are you angry with me?" Words couldn't express my level of astonishment. I just kind of stood before him without a word, my eyebrows still heavy over my wide eyes and my mouth open. Finally, words came to me when I clenched my fists at my side.

"Angry with you?! Does that even begin to describe it?!" I shouted back, my words echoing back at me in the empty hallways. Ulquiorra just looked at me calmly, which pissed me off even more. I marched over to him and slapped him right across his sorry face. He didn't seem fazed by my slap, but it felt satisfying to do that to him. Still, I was raging mad, "Why the hell wouldn't I hate you?! I trusted you! I even… I even…!" I couldn't finish that sentence as I lifted my hand up in the air, about to slap him again but felt myself begin to get dizzy. His hand came around my wrist before it could connect with Ulquiorra's face.

"You are badly injured. I suggest you don't move anymore for a successful recovery." He told me, while turning around. At first, I thought he was going to continue to on to where my room was like how we were, but he caught me off guard when he grabbed my legs and hoisted me up onto his back and then began moving. My face turned unspeakably red while on his back, piggybacking like we were old friends, but I didn't want Ulquiorra to see it so I pounded on his head.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?! You drag my ass here and now you do this for me?! Why?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" I shouted at him, not liking how he was confusing me like this. First he gets me to trust him, then he betrays me like it's nothing when he hands me over to Aizen and now he's lifting me up onto his back to carry me to my room because I'm injured? What the heck was going through his mind? Did he care about my well-being or didn't he? No! Keiko! Don't trust this guy! He deceived you, don't ever make the mistake of thinking that he cares about you again!

Ulquiorra took a while to answer my question even as I pounded his head. It didn't seem to affect him, just like the slap I gave him so it was probably like a soft breeze touching his head between intervals. Stupid jerk. Finally, he answered, "I don't quite know why myself. Yet, I do know that our agreement still stands; I am still your man servant despite everything that has happened."

Once more, my words were taken from me. How could he say something like that when he had just let Aizen beat me up in front of him when he knew that I was still recovering from my injuries that Grimmjow had given me? How could he call himself my man servant when he had chosen Aizen over me? How could he say anything like that? What gave him that right? My heart burned in my chest, stinging me again as if it were a fresh wound, but I knew there was already a deep scar there.

"You… you stupid jackass…," I murmured as tears formed in the corners of my eyes. I couldn't hold them back any longer – they just poured out of me like an overflowing dam. I lifted my hands from his head to my eyes and tried to block them out, but to no avail. I wailed as loud as I could from on his back, embarrassingly enough. Though at the moment, I could care less where I was. My heart felt like it was drowning all this time – from the moment I knew Ulquiorra had betrayed me. Getting beaten up by Aizen didn't help much either and being threatened to work for him because he was going to use my boss's daughter, who was killed in the accident that I barely recovered from, to keep me obedient. I just couldn't take it anymore.

In a way, I was glad that Ulquiorra was the one who was carrying me to my room because, despite the fact that he betrayed me, he was the still the one who I was the most comfortable around. Knowing that it was just the two of us granted me the freedom of crying my heart out without worrying about getting beaten to shut up. All he did was continue taking me to my room while tears stained the back of his clothes. Not once did he complain, but little did I care. I wished I could summon a typhoon of tears to drown him for all that he did to me.

By the time we got to my room, I was still bawling like a baby. Ulquiorra still didn't say anything to me as he placed me on his bed. Once again, he confused me as he helped put the blankets over me gently, but I kicked him and screamed at him through my tears like I was a child having a temper tantrum. Ulquiorra bore this without a word, just helping me into my bed without telling me once to shut up. I hated that… I hated how he was so calm about everything… I hated how he wasn't fazed by my slap… I hated him! Though, just as quietly as he entered with me did he back out of my room; when he got to the door, I saw him turn toward me again, but I threw a pillow at him to get him out of my sight. I could have sworn I saw his lips move, but I didn't care to know what he said as I plopped my head down angrily on my pillow and cried some more.

That night, I fell asleep with my pillow soaked with tears.


	13. Chapter 13 The Training

It was kind of hard to imagine that it already had been around three days since I arrived at Hueco Mundo. Aizen had told me that it was because he wanted me to firstly recover from my injuries (that I wanted to add that he inflicted on me, but didn't want to get beaten again so I didn't) and he secondly wanted me to get used to my environment. I didn't notice it right away, but being in this place did cause me to feel a lot weaker, as if the very air was thick and heavy. It was kind of hard to describe, but all I knew was that I felt a lot weaker than I probably would have been back in Karakura Town.

During my 'stay', I hardly moved from my room at all and I hardly had an appetite. Grimmjow was placed as my caretaker sort of as a punishment Aizen gave him for attacking Ulquiorra for no reason and would occasionally bring me some food, but a lot of the time I wasn't too hungry. I forced it down my throat all the time anyway, but there was no taste – it was as if I was eating sand. After that temper tantrum that Ulquiorra witnessed, I had felt definitely drained… no thanks to the environment I was in. That was one of the reasons why I didn't want to leave my room.

The other was so that I wouldn't encounter Ulquiorra.

He often made his stupid visits though, still pretending he was my man servant when he would take over Grimmjow's job as my caretaker (which Grimmjow didn't mind, really) and take the tray of food away when I was finished with it or brought some more food my way. He even changed my bed sheets and washed them along with bringing me new clothes every day. I ignored him all the time when he came over, not that he said anything anyway. I didn't want to look at that dickhead who brought me here, let alone talk to him. He wasn't going to offer solace, I already knew that nor did I want it from him. I hated him.

Yet, other than that, he mostly left me alone, for which I was grateful, but wouldn't ever tell him. If I did, he would probably get offended and tell me how much I irritated him again. I couldn't care less of how he thought of me. He was just a stupid liar prick.

Discarding that guy from the picture, my wounds had healed quite quickly despite how deep and abundant they were. I didn't know if it was something in the air of Hueco Mundo or what, but soon after arriving, the cut on my cheek had closed up so I could take off the bandaids. My shoulder wound and the bruises in my ribcage area were still in pain but they had closed up and healed a bit, luckily enough. Yet… the wound on my heart still hadn't healed – I still hated Ulquiorra with every fiber in my body for what he did; his betrayal had left me angry and distracted all the time. I just kept thinking back on how he handed me over to Aizen… that tight-lipped look of his just before the brown haired man appeared… Ugh! I couldn't get that infuriating image out of my head!

Yet, on the third day of being in Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow suddenly barged into my room while I was sleeping and woke me up with a start, "All right, get up bitch! Lord Aizen says it's time for you to begin your training with Halibel!" I rubbed my eyes wearily.

"Training? Halibel? What are you talking about?" I wondered lazily.

"Aizen didn't tell you? He wants your powers and he wants you to be able to control them." Grimmjow groaned, scratching the back of his head, like he didn't want to waste time explaining this to me at all, "And Halibel is the only bitch willing to train you. So you'd better get your lazy ass up and head on over there so I don't have to waste my time any longer." I got up, just like he said before he decided to get really angry with me and followed closely behind the frustrated blue haired man.

I had to admit, before I stepped out of my room a certain fear overcame me, but I tried to suppress it as I followed behind Grimmjow in case he got angry at my hesitance. I didn't really want to expose myself out of the safety of my room in case I encountered Ulquiorra in the hallways. If he so much glanced my way, I'd probably want to rush over there and strangle him, but knew if I did I would get punished, much like how Grimmjow did when he fought against Ulquiorra.

I tried to focus straight ahead and think about what kind of person Halibel was. Hopefully she was much kinder than the rest of these goons – even if it was only slightly. I didn't care if she snapped at me a lot or if she decided to bad mouth me, as long as she didn't hit me. I don't think I could handle any more abuse like that. Being treated like a tool was bad enough, but being physically abused made it even worse. At least I could sort of handle the verbal kind. And, also, she sounded like the only other girl around here: Of course, all I knew who were here were Grimmjow, Aizen and that stupid betrayer. Still, hopefully this Halibel and I could become peers or something; so we could talk about periods and whatever.

My thoughts were cut short when Grimmjow turned the corner and I followed suit, only to see those dumb green eyes staring straight at me from afar. I tried my hardest not to look back at them even though they were basically burning holes through my skin. Even though he had basically done all of Grimmjow's caretaker duties and more, I didn't care – he was still a jerk and I still hated him. No matter if he gave me a pile of chocolate, or a million hugs or held my hands so tightly and begged for my forgiveness would I give him a chance to slip into my heart again. He would only break it once more; and once was enough.

Though my mind wandered as his eyes stayed on me. It took me to a memory of us when we were in the grocery store – I didn't mention this earlier because I thought it was silly and irrelevant – but I remembered as if it was happening right in front of me again:

_I grabbed for some flour, but the shelves were too inconveniently small for me to easily take it out. Ulquiorra had come up from behind me and watched me struggle with it for a while, until he asked, "Do you need me to help you get that out of the shelf?"_

_"Ye-yeah…," I grunted, releasing the flour. Ulquiorra then tried his hand at it; he grabbed either side of it and pulled. In fact, he pulled it out so quickly and so easily that it came out instantly. Though, that upset the balance of the other items on the higher shelves and a box of grounded chili peppers had fallen on his head and he began sneezing like a madman. I laughed so hard…_

I shook my head to bring myself back to reality. That seemed like ages ago; but it was only a few days ago. It was the same day he had betrayed me – I couldn't forget that part. So I walked faster behind Grimmjow to get away from Ulquiorra's eyes that still continued to be on my back. There was no way I would be swayed; keep your guard up, Keiko – don't let him trick you again!

As soon as Grimmjow had dropped me off with a well-endowed woman with blonde hair and green eyes, he ran away as if he just achieved the greatest freedom in the world. I didn't mind even as he disappeared in the distance and I faced the woman in front of me and noticed how high her collar went – almost like she didn't want anyone to see her face. Maybe she had terrible teeth and she didn't want anyone to know about. Man, my humour had taken a turn for the worse since I got here.

"You're… Halibel?" I ventured a guess quietly and timidly. I still didn't know if she was the type to beat me the second I made a mistake like Aizen or Grimmjow. She didn't even move when I said those words so I immediately loosened up.

"I am." Halibel answered, crossing her arms underneath her large chest, "And I guess I'm the only one available to train you to contain your powers, am I?" I nodded my head, still a little wary to which Halibel sighed behind that giant collar of hers. She sat down in the sandy ground of Hueco Mundo and motioned for me to sit down with her, "Then I suppose we'll start with concentration exercises."

"Concentration exercises?" I repeated.

"Yes. It's to get used to having reishi in your body and to also hone your skills to command it to do whatever you like much easier. Think of it as sharpening the blade before you use it." Halibel explained, to which I nodded to but I didn't quite understand fully.

"Um… can I ask a question?" I wondered, terrified.

"You may. And don't act so formal – it's beginning to irritate me." Halibel told me which snapped me into immediately following those orders. I really didn't want to mess up because I really didn't want to get beat up again as I already said. Therefore, I was trying to be extremely careful with what I said in case any of them got angry with me.

"All right." I nodded, "What's reishi?" Halibel looked at me like I just asked her what color the sky was. She face-palmed with her baggy sleeve swaying in the breeze.

She sighed before answering, "Reishi is the main component of all spiritual matter. In Hueco Mundo, reishi is abundant and therefore can be collected by spiritual beings like us anywhere." I thought about that for a minute – did me being in Hueco Mundo make me a spiritual being, I wonder? I mean, Halibel just said 'spiritual beings like us', so it could have meant me. I could have gone through a transformation without knowing it. Or maybe because I have the power to apparently take away spiritual energy that made me a spiritual being. I debated asking Halibel the answer to that, but if she thought me asking what reishi was a stupid question, then perhaps that was a dumb question too.

"OK, I think I understand." I said instead, "So, I can manipulate this 'reishi' if I do these concentration exercises that we're going to do?"

"Exactly right." Halibel nodded, "And the more often you do it, the quicker to get at manipulating reishi."

"So how do we do that?" I wondered.

"We close our eyes," Halibel exemplified this as she said it, "And we quiet ourselves and feel the reishi in the area going in and out of our bodies… in and out…," She trailed off, so I assumed that she wanted me to do what she was doing.

I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath and slowly released it. My mind was blank for a moment, only silence ringing its hollow tune in my ears until I began to see images dance in my mind's eye. I saw myself and my parents… but we weren't alone – I saw that stupid jerk Ulquiorra sitting there with us, telling them his lies about being my lover. I furrowed my brows and frowned as I watched this scene unfold before me once again. I remembered being so happy, thinking that Ulquiorra had cared about me. Little did I know that he would soon take me to this awful place. Yet, the images kept appearing, switching from the scene when my parents came over to when he and Grimmjow had fought. I remembered how worried I was for the jerk – I wished he just died back there, that way I wouldn't be hurting like I was now. Maybe if I wasn't around to suppress the spiritual energy and that allowed Grimmjow to fight full force. Maybe that would have caused Ulquiorra to die without all this happening to me.

"Mistress Fukui…," His disgusting voice called as another memory popped into my head. It was when I was in the middle of explaining how to follow a recipe when he interrupted me because it was getting close to ten o'clock, when I had to go to work. I remembered how I was about to rush out the door, but came back to make sure he remembered to do everything and then he said, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." What did he think I was!? Worried?! Not in the slightest! The stupid idiot didn't even realize then that I didn't care about him but he believed I did –

"Keiko." Halibel's voice interrupted me, causing me to jump out of my memories.

"Y-yes?" I asked.

"I can sense that you're distracted. Focus." Halibel snapped. I hung my head in shame, worried that I wasn't good enough to do all this training. What if I wasn't good enough? Would Aizen kill me and throw me in the trash where it would compact me up into those little cubes until my body was unrecognizable? Halibel interrupted my thoughts again, "Keiko. How can you concentrate if your head is constantly swimming with distractions?"

"I… I can't?" I answered honestly.

"Exactly." Halibel sighed, "Here's a trick for doing these concentration exercises: Clear your mind." Halibel extended her fingers and pressed them against my forehead lightly, "If you tell yourself over and over that whatever is distracting you isn't worth it, then it will eventually disappear and your mind will become clear enough to allow you to do this a lot easier." I was shocked at this. She made it seem so simple; that getting rid of memories that were haunting you was like breathing: Unconscious, but necessary. I had to admit, though, in a way it had merit for me: If I could stop thinking of Ulquiorra with that method, then I wouldn't be hurting as much, right? If I could erase the memories I had of him and I when we were living back at the apartment, then my heart will seem lighter, wouldn't it?

Excited, I nodded enthusiastically, "I'll do it!" Once more, I closed my eyes and waited. For a while, it was just me breathing in and out, waiting for it to come. When the memories of Ulquiorra and I came flooding into my head, I chanted inside my head 'it isn't worth it, it isn't worth it…' over and over again in my head, telling memory after another that no matter what he did to me, it wasn't worth all this pain my heart was feeling. He wasn't worth it.

'It isn't worth it… it isn't worth it…' my mantra continued, and slowly and steadily, the images in my head faded black. Seeing that Halibel's method worked very effectively, I continued, this time loud and with more conviction. I watched as Ulquiorra's green eyes that were swimming within my mind's eye turned out to be nothing. It faded as if it was being snuffed out like a fire. The longer I did this, the less the pain in my heart was… and the hatred I had for that no-name lessened with each memory that I chose to brush out of my mind…


	14. Chapter 14 Fighting Ulquiorra

Training with Halibel proved to be a great success seeing as the more concentration exercises I did with her the less pain I felt in my heart. The days went by quickly as well, seeing as it was already the fifth day of my training and already I had gotten used to using my powers. Halibel taught me how to use it, all the while figuring out herself how my power would show itself. It came out as a… she compared it to sort of like a 'Cero'-like invisible beam wave that shuts off the spiritual energy in the targeted spiritual being. Yet, she warned, it could be evaded easily and thus leaving me wide open to attacks – which was why she also took some time to teach me basic self-defence.

Halibel's self-defence training was rigorous, but proved to be immediately fruitful because after one session, I felt like I was dying and breathing like there was no air in the atmosphere. Still, the training seemed to fill an empty void in my heart, right where the pain used to be. I was glad for it and put my all into the training – which reaped positive results. I could parry very basic attacks and I learned the best ways to effectively swing the dagger that Halibel had entrusted to me. Though, she daunted my confidence a bit when she told me that my sword-fighting abilities along with my powers to take away spiritual energy could enable me to defeat only very, very weak and useless Arrancars.

Also, thanks to the concentration training, I found that I could face Ulquiorra without getting too angry. I mean, I still got angry at him, but I would remember the training and retell myself that he wasn't worth it. Eventually, after the mantra continued on in my head for about five minutes, I'd finally lessen the anger. It even got to the point where I could talk to Ulquiorra without lashing out at him like I did the first day I was brought here. Yet, I couldn't help but think after I did talk to him, somewhere deep in my heart, that maybe I should work on the forgiveness part of the 'forgive and forget' rather than just forget. But, once again, my stubbornness continued – I wanted him to apologize first if we were going to make up again… if that day would ever come, I didn't know.

Though, Grimmjow surprised me one morning when Aizen came trailing behind him. I furrowed my brows, wondering silently why he came to my room until he filled me in, "Keiko, I have received several reports from Halibel about the results of your training. She claims that you greatly improved… but I don't want to take just her word for it. Come with me." With that, Aizen turned around as quickly as he had come in – most likely expecting me to follow him. Grimmjow grabbed my arm and dragged me behind him.

While we were in the white halls of Las Noches, the name of the building specifically we were in that I recently learned, I silently whispered to Grimmjow, "What is going on? What does he want me to do?"

"I don't know." Grimmjow replied honestly, "All I know is that there's a crowd gathering in the main room – expect to be the center of attention for a while."

I thought about this news with a troubled mind. What could Aizen possibly want me to prove with a bunch of people around? I figured he wanted to test out my powers to see how they work first-hand. But that didn't explain why he needed such a huge crowd gathered. Did he want to use me as somewhat of a warning to others? If any of them disobeyed him, they could have their spiritual energy taken away from them and be forced to live out the remainder of their lives as useless beings with no power to call their own? I suppose for these beings, who seem to live for the purpose of fighting, it would be extremely detrimental.

Finally, the three of us came to a huge white door that looked large enough that it would need around five people to open, but Aizen opened it himself, with one hand no less, revealing to me a very overcrowded room just like Grimmjow had said. There were a lot of Arrancars, judging from their attire. I could only name a few of them, but the most prominent one I saw was Halibel who was standing tall against the crowd, her arms crossed and her eyes closed. I also identified some eccentric characters such as a man with silver hair and narrow eyes with an eerie grin stretching across his face. I also noticed a very tall man with long black hair, a straight row of white teeth and a super high collar. I scanned the rest of the crowd, hoping to find… er... no one…

The three of us walked in, but I couldn't help looking around nervously, wondering what was going on. Grimmjow suddenly threw his hand out to stop me when we had made it out into the middle of the room. Aizen, on the other hand, kept going until he had made it to a stone chair and sat on it, leaning his head on his knuckles like he was ready to fall asleep or something.

"I suppose you're wondering why I have brought you here with such a large crowd… aren't you?" Aizen wondered, his voice booming. It suddenly hit me how quiet everyone was. They focused all their attention on me without a word between them.

"Yes. I am." I answered suppressing my desire to tell Aizen something sarcastic like: "Well, I was until everyone started staring at me so I suggest that this is some form of torture?" Under normal circumstances, I would have said that, but I didn't want to upset Aizen, who could easily beat me up in front of everyone.

"Well, I shall tell you – I want you to show me how your powers work." He said. I was about to do just that, raising my arms slightly and everything, until Aizen spoke up, "Ah… but I don't want you to show me that way – show me in combat. Ulquiorra." I was shocked to hear that name as everyone's heads turned in sync as that stupid green-eyed jerk came out from the crowd.

He bowed in front of me to Aizen and I wished I could have turned my gaze into daggers to stab the back of his head, "You called, Lord Aizen?"

"You shall engage in combat with Keiko to show us all what she can do." Aizen told him. I was blown away by this news – I had to fight… Ulquiorra? I stared at him, wondering what might be going on in his head, but I should have expected to see the same expressionless mask on his face when he turned around. I gave him a dirty look, imagining myself knocking him senseless and I put my foot on his chest, celebrating over him. Yet, then my mind went to him fighting Grimmjow in the warehouse and wasn't daunted no matter how much attacks Grimmjow sent his way. How could I fight someone like that? He was going to whoop my butt… but if he was, I wasn't going down without a fight! I was going to at least hit him once before I go down!

Though, I found myself hesitant, which was embarrassing in front of all these people. Why couldn't I bring my dagger out of its sheath? Why couldn't I at least suppress his spiritual energy? Wasn't this the perfect opportunity for me to beat his face in? Why was my body freezing up like this?

"Anytime you wish to start, Keiko." Aizen called, dragging me out of my thoughts. I bit my lip, but I lifted two arms in front of me and pointed them at my opponent, Ulquiorra. Gathering reishi like Halibel taught me, I released it just as it reached its peak and fired the 'Cero'-like invisible blast. Of course, it left no physical difference to Ulquoirra, but you could just tell he felt the difference – which caused the crowd to whisper amongst themselves. I took this time to glance over at Aizen, who still wore the same expression on his face as always, but there was a hint of interest in his eyes.

Ulquiorra then took his sword out from its sheath, reminding me that even though I showed off my powers, we weren't finished sparring like Aizen wanted us to. I got out my dagger right away but was suddenly struck with inadequacy – I was never going to win against Ulquiorra, even if I took away his spiritual energy. Though, the anger and sadness of his betrayal caused me to find the courage to at least try – I wasn't going to die… not when Aizen wanted to use my powers for his own benefit.

With that thought in mind, I charged first, my dagger raised, ready to strike him. Ulquiorra didn't make a move even as I came at him full throttle. I brought down my dagger, which he easily blocked and he kicked me in the stomach away from him. Even though I was in mid-air, I couldn't help but notice how gently that kick actually ended up being. Yet, as I tumbled to the floor and heard some quiet chuckling from within the crowd, I flushed bright red as I got up to glare at Ulquiorra who hadn't moved an inch from his spot. He was making a fool out of me, wasn't he?! I knew that I wasn't as strong as Ulquiorra, but he could've at least used a little more power so the crowd wouldn't think I was a complete loser!

Though, I didn't want to go down without a fight, so I raced toward Ulquiorra who didn't even flinch once again. I sliced at him, but he simply side-stepped out of the way. I turned to him wide-eyed that he could move so fast and anticipated an attack, but instead I heard him whisper right into my ear, "Mistress Fukui…,"

At first, I thought I had imagined it, but when I swung my dagger at him and looked at his face when he dodged it, I saw that he was looking directly into my eyes. I knew that it wasn't a clear identification of whether or not he actually did speak to me rather than it being just a figment of my imagination, but I sincerely felt like those eyes were beckoning to me somehow.

Ulquiorra, though was just a moment ago dodging my attack, suddenly disappeared from my sight. I was shocked and I looked around frantically in search for him when I suddenly felt a presence behind me. Before I could turn around or run away in time, I felt a sword against my throat and a hand around my wrist. I struggled, but his grip was tight as he leaned his head closer to my ear.

"Mistress Fukui… why have you lost sight of yourself?" He murmured in my ear, causing a shiver to go up and down my spine. I gripped my dagger tightly in my fist that I was caught in Ulquiorra's grasp. How dare he call me that name – he wasn't my man servant anymore… he was a dirty liar!

"What do you mean?!" I hissed quietly back at him, not really knowing why I had chosen to whisper, but continued on in the same tone, "I didn't lose sight of myself, I'm the exact same person I always was! Don't act like you know me just because you were my so-called 'man servant'!" I pushed myself out of his grip as I said this, but it felt like he allowed me to get out which humiliated me even more. I turned to face him and just as I did, he got his sword up into a stance.

I rushed toward Ulquiorra again, anger filling inside of me almost as plentiful as the blood in my veins. I would hack and slash at him relentlessly, but he always managed to block every single one of them. The fact that he never took his eyes off of mine really made me even angrier – the entire time… the entire time he knew he was going to betray me. Did it really not bother him? Not even a little bit? Was I really that unimportant to him? How could he not, when we lived together, worked together and even shared our values on solitude?

As I continued slashing at the retreating Ulquiorra, my eyes burned with fresh tears as he said, "If you didn't lose sight of yourself, then why do you exude so much anger? When I knew you in the World of the Living, you had the ability to make someone such as myself feel comfortable and feel like I belonged. That person disappeared and only a person filled with anger is–,"

"Stop trying to lie to me!" I blurted out, not caring about whispering anymore because I just wanted him to shut up. Everyone in the room got quiet, but I didn't care to look at them. Frustrated tears blurred my vision, but I pretended they weren't even there. Ulquiorra regarded them as such as well. In a weak, pathetic voice I continued, "I know now that it was all an act – the dancing, holding my hand and hugging me and doing all these nice things for me… but you don't have to keep that up here. You can act however you want here – and I'd even prefer it if you were cold, mean and indifferent toward me. I just… I just couldn't handle it if you confused me anymore…,"

Ulquiorra didn't say anything as my onslaught of attacks died off. I stood before him shamelessly with my head down so no one could see the tears falling from my eyes. I thought I had drowned this pain out… I thought that, from Halibel's concentration exercises I had numbed the pain of Ulquiorra's betrayal. Yet, my heart was as if it was on fire and it felt like there was an invisible noose around my neck. When had this pain slipped back into my life? Why did it choose now, in front of all these people? I'd give anything to stop my tears right then, but I could hardly breathe, let alone stop them.

"This is why humans are so troublesome." Ulquiorra murmured softly, which snapped me out of crying when all of a sudden, I was thrown to the floor. As my back connected to the floor harshly, the dagger was tossed out of my fingers and scraped across the floor, toward where the crowd was gathered. Before I could regain myself from the fall, Ulquiorra pointed his blade directly at my neck. I checked his expression for any sign of him planning to actually kill me – but I saw nothing of the sort… in fact, if anything, I saw a hint of pain that I never saw before swimming in those green orbs. But… what would cause him to be in pain like that? Maybe I was reading them wrong – or perhaps he was trying to fool me again by giving me those eyes to catch me off guard like he did the first time.

"Enough." Aizen's voice boomed before anymore could be said or done. We all turned to him, even myself who was still on the floor with the sword up to my neck. Aizen's smirk never changed, but you could just tell there was amusement hidden in those narrow brown eyes of his, "I've seen enough. You can hold off now, Ulquiorra." Even though he was told to stand down, Ulquiorra looked at me before doing what he was told. In front of everyone, he bent over so he could say one last thing before leaving.

"I'll visit you in your room later and from there, I will tell you everything." Ulquiorra whispered softly which caused me to be confused. Tell me everything? What did that mean? Before I could ask any questions, he got up again and took his sword away from my throat. I got up onto my elbows and watched him walking away, with two conflicting thoughts: Was this a ploy to make me trust him so he will have his way with me again or was this genuine – did he actually want to tell me something that will make me trust him again for both my benefit and his? To trust or not to trust… that was the real question.


	15. Chapter 15 Truth or Lies?

I sat down on my lonely little bed in my empty little room up in Las Noches, worrying about a visit from an 'old friend' of mine. When Aizen ordered Ulquiorra to fight me and I quickly lost against him, he had told me that he would 'tell me everything'. I didn't know what about, but it still made me nervous. It made me wonder if he wanted to tell me more lies like: "Oh, I actually still consider you my Mistress, but Lord Aizen was just threatening me into betraying you. Sorry." Yeah, if he said that, I'd probably punch him in the face.

Or maybe he had a confession to make. My heart pounded in my chest as this thought came into my head. What if he wanted to tell me all about his feelings for me? I know he said I irritated him one day, but maybe that was just a ruse. What if that irritation was budding feelings for me? Perhaps he didn't understand the feeling and that was why he said all those awful things to me? That makes sense, but then again… why would he tell me about his feelings for me when he showed no interest in me before? Also, why would he skip the getting me to trust him part? That didn't make any sense; so that idea was thrown out quickly.

So… if not that… then maybe it would be a bunch of lies. If that was the case, then I would most definitely not listen to him. I'll pretend; I'll nod my head and smile at him while he spews out sweet nothings, but I will not go anywhere with him, nor will I do anything with him, nor will I let him into my room again after this. I will keep my distance; close my heart, my eyes, my ears, and my mind. Everything. I will not allow him to trick me again – I made that mistake once, but I will never make it again no matter what he may throw at me.

But what if he says nothing? I know that sounds weird, but knowing Ulquiorra, maybe he'd get to just saying nothing at all. What if he just takes my hands, sitting down on the bed next to me, silent as the night, with those green orbs boring into my brown ones, searching through to my soul to see my inner desires? OK, back up the creepy train here and assume he just takes me right then and there. You know what I mean: Assume he just makes love to me. That is a form of 'everything', wasn't it? I mean, he got to see 'everything' that way and I could see 'everything' on him. Which made me wonder… did Ulquiorra have–?

Suddenly, the door creaked open, the light from the hallways flooding into my room. I stood from my bed, ready for anything: Lies, a confession, even sex; but, I told myself, I would not allow him back into my heart, no matter what. That was my consensus: That whatever he threw at me, I'd take it as a grain of salt. It meant nothing; I mean, after all, if what he did while pretending to be my man servant was all fake, then who was to say this wasn't? No one, that's who.

Though, as soon as I saw him standing there in the doorway, looking the same as he normally did, I felt my resolve weaken. He may have lied to me and passed me over to Aizen who beat me into submission, but there was something about Ulquiorra that caused me to melt before him. Or maybe there was something wrong with me? I felt as though all those thoughts about the possibilities of what he wanted to tell me were nothing – senseless worrying. Who was I fooling? I still sort of trusted him even after all he had done to me. I still liked to think, in the back of my mind, that he didn't actually want to betray me. I told myself over and over that I hated him and called him some pretty terrible things in my head. Yet… that was all a scam to trick myself this whole time.

I was in love with him.

Ulquiorra silently wandered into my room, quietly closing the door behind him. He didn't say anything as he sat on the small table after rolling it over to my bed. I sat down again and waited for him to say, "I know you hate me right now, but I need you to hear me out."

"What is this all about?" I murmured curiously.

"I told you that I would tell you everything." Ulquiorra whispered back.

"What is 'everything'?" I asked.

"About us. About our situation. And about what I'm prepared to do for you." Ulquiorra told me, which shut up all my words inside of me. I could understand the 'us' and the 'situation' part, but I couldn't quite wrap my head fully around the whole 'for you' part. Did he have a plan of some sort or was it truly as I had thought: Sex? I shook my head to get that thought out of my head as Ulquiorra continued, "First of all, I want to confess that what I did to you – that is, betray your trust – was wrong of me. I do not expect forgiveness as it would be smart of you not to… but it would please me if you did."

I was shocked; so shocked that I couldn't find my words. The best thing I could find myself saying was, "Ulquiorra…?"

"You see… ever since I did that to you, I have been in pain. A much unsolicited pain that I wanted to rectify so I tried everything I could possibly think of to erase it. There were times when I would believe I had overcome it, but it would always come back. I didn't know why until I came to a conclusion: The pain had to do with you somehow. Every time I saw you, it would come back, each time more painful than the last. It worsened when you gazed back at me with hatred in your eyes… but even more when there was nothing: When you refused to even meet with my eyes."

He paused, so I took this moment to inquire, "So what did you do?"

"I considered my options. I knew that at any time I could kill you and thus, destroy the cause of my pain." Ulquoirra said nonchalantly, "Yet, I know that it would only anger Lord Aizen since he invested so much time in you already. Though, more importantly, I believe it would only worsen my pain." I took in this information deeply, reaching to the depths of what he could possibly mean by all this. Did he mean that… there was some sort of feelings he had for me? Otherwise, the pain wouldn't have been there to begin with. But, I chastised myself, it probably was only because he had promised me that he would be my man servant until I got enough funds for repairing the window. The guilt was probably eating away at him, causing that pain to come.

I decided to disregard that last comment and instead addressed his previous statement, "So, you considered the option of killing me, huh? I bet, if you just had done that from the very beginning, you wouldn't have to go through all of this. That would have been a load off your mind, wouldn't it?"

"Your anger is understandable." Ulquiorra said, closing his eyes, "But, where I do admit to have thought that at one point, you must realize that I withheld myself to weigh the consequences of such an action, as I said earlier."

"How do I know this isn't a lie as well?" I asked, which caused Ulquiorra's eyes to pop open again. I didn't know myself why I was being so stubborn, but I suppose that was what happened when the one you trusted enough to leave in your apartment alone and do all the chores turns on you. My heart was telling me to trust him again because of that fondness for him I had, while my head was telling me that I'd have to be a complete moron to let him convince me that he actually was pained by the fact that I was hating on him.

"Because, Lord Aizen doesn't know of my current whereabouts." Ulquiorra said softly, which caused my eyebrows to furrow. Wasn't Aizen the ruler of this place or something? Shouldn't he know of all his subordinates' whereabouts? Ulquiorra continued, "Typically, wherever I go and whatever I do are based on Lord Aizen's orders. Yet, this time, I am acting on my own accord."

"Then why did you do it?" I wondered, my voice was getting shaky from emotion.

"…do what?" Ulquiorra pressed.

"Why did you betray my trust to begin with?!" I shouted through fresh tears. Ulquiorra quietly stared at me as I rambled on, blubbering, "If you didn't want to feel pain, if you didn't want me to hate you, if you didn't want to go behind Aizen's back then all you had to do was turn your back on me and pretend you didn't make any deal with me! Instead, you stayed with me, got me to rely on you only to stab me in the back. And now… you decide to barge in here and tell me everything bad that has happened in your life because of me! Don't you think I suffered just as much as you? Perhaps even more! You just watched as Aizen beat me up… and afterwards still claimed you were my man servant! Where does your loyalty lie – Aizen or me?! Just choose one and I'll respect that; just don't make me think you're on my side when you're not… please…," It was probably annoying to him that every time we spoke that I'd start crying, but I could not stop them – especially after I just released what I had been holding in for nearly a week.

Though Ulquiorra didn't tell me to, I quote: 'Cease your crying', like he usually did; instead, I felt a tug on my arm and I suddenly felt myself locked within his strong arms. I knew I should have tried to get out from Ulquiorra's grip, but he just smelled so good and felt so warm that I sank into it, planting my face into his chest and bawled my eyes out there. Ulquiorra didn't say anything, he just held me, which was good enough for me. I couldn't stand it if he decided to tell me things in an attempt to make me stop crying – actually, if I knew myself well enough, I'd probably cry even harder if he did.

After a while of soaking Ulquiorra's front with tears, he finally spoke, "You want to know the reason for my betrayal, do you? To be completely honest, I don't know why myself – but I do know this: Ever since you asked me on my first day of working under you whether I would serve Lord Aizen or yourself when it came down to it, I didn't know the answer. This question puzzled me due to the circumstances. Yet, as time wore on, I found myself trying to forget that option even existed… but Lord Aizen forced me to make that decision when he asked me to get you to trust me in order to bring you here without witness or resistance. Without thinking, I did what had become a habit: I followed Lord Aizen's orders. It was strange… usually I think about my orders more deeply than I had when I followed that one to betray you; yet, this time, because I didn't think about anything – least of all how it would affect you – the situation trickled down into what it is now. And… I regret it… everyday…,"

I blinked back some tears as I looked up at Ulquiorra who was staring off into the distance in his own forlorn way. My heart ached; I didn't think I'd ever see him like this and I didn't think it'd ever hurt me as much as it did. Don't be sad… don't regret anything, mistakes are made and they can be corrected… was what I wanted to say; but I couldn't find my words again. This was due to the fact that I wanted to trust him, but I knew that he may be trying to lure me in again just to hurt me. My love that I had for him was blinding me to these facts but I didn't want it to overrule me; I wanted some control over this situation. I wasn't ready to fully trust him just yet.

Ulquiorra suddenly broke out from his trance and looked at me, which made me want to avoid his gaze, but I found myself eagerly staring back, "But telling you all this was only part of the real reason I came here. I came here because I have a plan. A plan to correct my past mistake by aiding you into returning to your apartment back in Karakura Town." My eyes widened at those words. Bringing me back to Karakura Town was completely against what Aizen wanted – since he wanted me to be here, ready at his disposal. Doing that… would mean that Ulquiorra would turn his back on Aizen, all for what? To correct a mistake he made? Meaning…

He considered betraying me to be a mistake?

Suddenly the door was thrown open and there stood Grimmjow, a big grin spreading across his face. Ulquiorra quickly released me from his arms as he glared over at Grimmjow, "How much of that did you hear, Grimmjow?"

"I heard enough to know that you're planning on turning against Aizen." Grimmjow shrugged, stepping into the room. I noticed that he dropped the 'Lord' in that sentence. Casually, he sat down next to me and added, "If that's the case, then you can include me in on this plan."


	16. Chapter 16 A Shaky Alliance

"Why would you want to join us? What purpose do you have?" Ulquiorra asked Grimmjow who seemed almost like he was welcomed into my room. I knew he was my caretaker for the time being, but that didn't give him the right to barge into a lady's room – even if that lady was someone such as me, who, despite not wanting to trust Ulquiorra, was finding herself being more and more convinced to trust him with every precious moment Ulquiorra gave her.

"You saw what Aizen did to me." Grimmjow told him, glaring with his fangs barred as if he was staring at the memory like it was playing over again in front of him, "He made a complete fool out of me that day the two of us fought. He not only interrupted my fight, but he easily blocked my attack and talked down to me like I was a damn child! I want to show that bastard up; and I figured, after listening in on you wanting to return this girl back to her world, that I could do just that if I joined forces with you."

Ulquiorra sighed, "You do realize that doing this will most likely get you to fight Lord Aizen, don't you?" My eyes widened at this news as I turned to look at Ulquiorra, who seemed as though he already accepted this notion. Why didn't I think of that when he said he was going to take me back home? Of course Aizen would resist against it… which means he would have to fight Aizen himself to do this for me.

"About as much as you do." Grimmjow replied coolly.

"And you accept this?" Ulquiorra wondered.

"Of course; I don't care if I die in this process – I just can't take any more of this crap. If I have to spit out 'Lord' in front of his damned name one more time I think I'm going to throw up." Grimmjow said with over abundant confidence, "I'm going to pound the life out of him even if he tears me limb from limb because I have my honor to gain. What do you have to gain from fighting Aizen? This girl's affection and trust? Pretty lame if you ask me."

Ulquiorra paused a moment, but both Grimmjow and I waited for his answer. I knew that I wanted to know his answer to that; because I knew that his reason for fighting his Lord and Master couldn't just be correcting his mistakes alone… there had to be something else there. Something more important to him. I noticed his eyes flicker over to mine for a split second and then he answered with, "I have my reasons. But that's not what we're here to discuss. We're here to discuss the plan I had in mind for getting Mistress Fukui out of here."

"Mistress Fukui?" Grimmjow repeated, sounding disgusted, "Jeez, you're as submissive as ever. I never thought I'd hear that this bitch would get you to call her something like that." Ulquiorra sharply looked over at Grimmjow who seemed to stiffen under his eye.

"I'd ask you to refrain from using such vulgar terms." Ulquiorra snapped. This surprised me; if I didn't know any better, I would have thought Ulquiorra just defended me from Grimmjow calling me a bitch. I couldn't help but smile at that and consider… perhaps I should trust in Ulquiorra for now – just until I catch the scent of any lies. I mean… he was planning on going against Aizen to return me safely home, why shouldn't I trust him as long as I kept that doubt in the back of my mind?

"Let's not dawdle – what's the plan already?" I asked impatiently.

"Right, then I shall begin debriefing you both." Ulquiorra nodded, "My plan is very simple: Do whatever possible to get Mistress Fukui back to the World of the Living. Of course, like I mentioned earlier, that will require us fighting some of the Espada and Lord Aizen himself."

"Do you have a strategy in mind for that?" I wondered.

"Not formally." Ulquiorra admitted, "But I do know that if Grimmjow and I fight together, we might stand a chance against the stronger members of the Espada. As for you, Mistress Fukui, my plan does involve you facing off against some of the Espada – are you prepared for that?"

I had to admit, I was struck with sudden fear at that notion. Me, fighting someone such as Ulquiorra or Grimmjow? I could barely use my powers to take away spiritual powers in a one-on-one situation like in sparring sessions with Halibel. How was he expecting me to fight against one of the Espada when I could barely handle that? I bit my lip while they waited on me, feeling useless. Why couldn't I just be strong enough to help them effectively? Why was I so weak?

"I… I don't know if I can…," I murmured pathetically, my eyes downcast because I was too ashamed of myself to look them in the eye, "I'm not nearly strong enough to fight them. My skill with the dagger Halibel gave me is nothing special and my powers won't help me out much…,"

"You may be correct about this, but you must also take into account your powers to take away spiritual energies." Ulquiorra told me. I looked up at him and, miraculously enough, saw confidence in his green eyes, "Remember when I first met you? I was in such a weakened state, I could barely stand upright. This is, I surmised after learning about your powers, due to the fact that I was struck by it the first time and I wasn't used to suddenly losing my spiritual energy. The second time I got struck by it, when you used it on me earlier today when we fought, I was more used to it so I didn't get as weak as I did before. That means, if you are able to use it the first time on a weaker Espada that should weaken them enough for you to beat them even with your mediocre swordplay abilities."

Even though he insulted me toward the end of that spiel, I found myself uplifted by his words. Did he really have that much confidence in my powers? When did I ever prove myself to him like that? Was it when I fought him? Maybe… maybe that was why he decided to tell me to meet with him about this plan as we were fighting – because he could gage my current abilities and judge when to put the plan into action or to see if I was ready enough. It could have been that… and it also could have been something else…

To see if there was still a little bit of feelings in me for him.

If I displayed not an ounce of trust in him or concern for him while I fought, then would he have not told me about this plan? Would he not have done this for me? For once, I was sort of grateful for not being able to fully hate him for betraying me. Now, if he was telling the truth, I could get home and not have to spend the rest of my life with Aizen ordering me around. I could only hope that Ulquiorra would keep his word this time…

"Are you sure you want to trust this bit–," Grimmjow was about to say until Ulquiorra shot him another look and he rephrased his sentence, "—this girl with fighting some of the Espada? They could probably whoop her ass before she could even get her powers to suppress spiritual powers in. I mean, Aizen did order the lot of them to come watch that fight you two just had in the main room. Nnoitra, Halibel of course, and even Starrk was there. They know what she can do and they probably already came up with ways to dodge it in case she decided to turn on them."

"I realize that." Ulquiorra told him, "That is why I already incorporated it into the plan. We are not going to initiate this plan right away – we will wait until Mistress Fukui is skilled enough to use her powers more effectively in battle. Halibel will have to be dealt with by us, of course, since she is the one training Mistress Fukui; but as for the others, I believe she can deal with them even if it's just the weaker of the Espada. That will help lighten our load so we can save our spiritual energy for the fight with Aizen."

"If you say so…," Grimmjow didn't sound too convinced.

"I'll do my best." I declared, gathering both of their attention, "I mean, it is as you say – my abilities are iffy at best. But I promise you that I will do everything within my power to help you two. After all, you're putting your all into this to get me back home; that is the least I can do to repay you."

Grimmjow slapped his hand on the back of my head and forced it down to my lap, "Repaying me, my ass! Don't think I'm doing this for you. I'm only doing this to regain the honor that bastard Aizen had stripped away from me!"

"OK, OK, I get it!" I shouted in protest and felt relieved that he actually released me. Still, I held onto my head as Ulquiorra continued on with his plan.

"Next, we go on about with the fight against Lord Aizen. I must admit, I do not know the full extent of his powers, but I know it will not be easy, even for the two of us in our Resurrección form. Be ready for anything Grimmjow." Ulquiorra informed him, to which Grimmjow nodded solemnly. Then Ulquiorra turned to me, "And, Mistress Fukui, we're going to need your help in the battle against Lord Aizen."

I was surprised, "M-me? But…,"

"Yes. I don't know if we have the capability to kill Lord Aizen; but I do know that if we can seal his spiritual energy with your powers, then that will be enough to stop him a little bit." Ulquiorra said, placing a hand on my shoulder. This caused me to blush as I looked into those beautiful eyes of his, "Without your powers, there wouldn't be any hope for us to win. Will you seal Lord Aizen's powers?"

That answer was obvious, but I couldn't stop myself from hesitating. Did I really want to go through with this plan? This could cost me my life if I messed up, which I would be bound to do somewhere down the line. Was it right of me to go through with this when I didn't have nearly as much confidence in myself that Ulquiorra had for me? How did I even know if Ulquiorra was really going to do this? What if Aizen just wanted to trick me into thinking I could get home only to crush it?

"I'll… try…," I muttered back.

"Try? Dammit, that's useful!" Grimmjow grumbled sarcastically, which snapped my head up, "I have to admit, Ulquiorra's right – without your powers sealing up Aizen, we wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance against him. You have to seal his powers if you want to get home!"

"Vulgar as he is, Grimmjow has a point." Ulquiorra moved his hand from my shoulder to my right hand. Where was all this gentleness coming from? He never displayed it before… but then again, he never displayed complete hatefulness toward me either. Did that mean… he was genuinely getting fond of me? I was confused again, which disturbed me. Ulquiorra continued, "In order for you to get home, you need to aid us. But you have to trust in yourself and your abilities."

My mouth fell opened slightly; I never thought about that before. I always thought about trusting or not trusting Ulquiorra all this time, but I never once thought of trusting myself. If I trusted in my instincts and followed what I believed was right, did I ever actually make a mistake, theoretically? Meaning… if I believed in myself, I could do just about anything I put my mind to and anything that doesn't go exactly the way I pictured it was only a stepping stone. If I followed Ulquiorra's advice… would I succeed? There was no harm in trying… right?

I nodded, more determined than I ever was, "Yes. I will seal Aizen's spiritual energy."

"Excellent." Ulquiorra said, taking his hand away from mine and then turned to Grimmjow, "That just leaves creating a Garganta; hopefully we will have enough energy after the battle to make one for Mistress Fukui to get to Karakura Town." Grimmjow scoffed at this.

"Making a Garganta is nothing. We can do that easily." Grimmjow said cockily.

"Very well. We'll pin our hopes on you to make one if the rest of us can't." Ulquiorra said with a sigh. With that, we decided from there that we would wait until it was the correct time to put this plan into action. I only hoped that we could do this… and that I could get strong enough to live up to their expectations. I didn't want to disappoint either of them… especially Ulquiorra.

Though, just as Ulquiorra was about to leave, worry ate at me. Without thinking, I grabbed onto his sleeve and flushed bright red when he turned to face me with a hint of curiosity in his green orbs. I sputtered out my worries nervously, "A-are you… are you sure you want to go through with this? I mean… you'd go up against your Lord to return me home…? How do I know this isn't a lie as well to get me to trust you again?"

I released his sleeve as Ulquiorra turned to face me properly, "When I chose to betray you, I was a fool. This time, I assure you, I won't damage your trust in me; and I will do just about anything to repair that trust – even if it causes me to cross blades with my Lord."


	17. Chapter 17 Figured Out!

I felt my body being shaken back and forth roughly. I opened my eyes quickly, just a few seconds ago I was deeply sleeping, but I was now wide awake. I saw that it was Grimmjow who was rousing me from my sleep. I was so drowsy, I didn't notice right away the amount of alarm that was written plainly on his face. I yawned, "What's going on? Why did you wake me up so early?"

"Why are you acting so calm?!" Grimmjow yelled at me, waking me up instantly, "Aizen is demanding to see you. Now!" Immediately, I froze up upon hearing those words. Aizen… summoned me? Oh god, did he figure out already about the plan Ulquiorra discussed with Grimmjow and I only yesterday?! We weren't ready! What would he do to us? Would he kill Grimmjow and Ulquiorra for their insolence? But, Grimmjow said Aizen only summoned me, so… what did that mean? I decided to lower the panic level a few notches as I kicked my feet out of bed.

"What do you think he'll do or say to me?" I asked worriedly.

"Why the hell would I know?!" Grimmjow shouted back to me. Even though he was normally this impulsive, I noticed that he seemed a little edgier than usual, "But whatever it is, it can't be good for us. Damn bastard has little birds everywhere. This could completely ruin our plan to take him down…,"

Now nervous as hell, I paced around the room, fleshing out every possible situation: It could be that Aizen discovered our plan… but then again, it could also be the results of yesterday's fight with Ulquiorra I had that he ordered. I tried as hard as I could to not think of him figuring out our plan because no matter what solution I'd try to come up with for it, it would always end up flopping. Maybe he just wanted to tell me what he thought of my powers. Yes, that was a plausible possibility. Or maybe he just wanted to use my powers for his purpose. Maybe there was an enemy of his nearby and he couldn't be bothered with having to fight them so he just wanted me to seal their spiritual energy for a quick fix.

Grimmjow grabbed my arm, "We should hurry – Aizen probably doesn't want to wait for you." Before we left the room, I quickly grabbed for my dagger that Halibel had given me and stuffed it underneath my shirt. As Grimmjow dragged me out of my room and down the white halls of Las Noches, my heart pounded in my chest as we got closer to the main room.

"Y-you're going to be there with me, aren't you? You're my caretaker, you have to be wherever I am don't you?" I asked with a shaking voice. I didn't want to be left alone in the same room as Aizen. He terrified me, for obvious reasons. At least if Grimmjow was there, it would probably guarantee that Aizen wouldn't beat me up again didn't it?

"No. Aizen specifically said that he didn't want me to be there. It's going to be just you and him." Grimmjow told me solemnly. Fear zapped throughout my body, as if a lightning bolt just struck me. It was going to be just… just Aizen and I? In the same room? Alone? Oh god, this wasn't going to end well. I could barely stand him with that crowd of people watching Ulquiorra and I battle, but alone?! Why didn't I write my will yesterday while I still had the chance?!

Soon, a little too soon for my liking, we arrived to the giant doors that Aizen had opened with his one hand just yesterday. I stared up at them with dread clear in my eyes. Grimmjow glanced over at me, looking troubled as well. Still, he didn't stop even as he opened the door for me. My knees knocked together as the doors rolled open slowly, revealing me to the man sitting in his stone chair exactly the same as he had when he ordered Ulquiorra to fight me. A greasy smirk was across his face, as if my terrified expression amused him. A lump formed in my throat.

"Come in, Keiko." Aizen called, his voice echoing in the now empty room. I blinked back tears of fright as I looked down at my shaking legs, willing them to move before Aizen got angry. My foot raised slowly and I basically dragged myself into the room. My heart was moving so erratically fast, I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest. My knuckles turned white from my hands being so tightly formed into a fist with anticipation. Please don't let him know about the plan… please don't let him know about the plan…

Behind me, Grimmjow slammed the door closed, causing me to jump. I turned back toward the door and then scanned around the room, noticing at there was no windows lining the walls. There was nowhere for me to run. I was trapped in here alone with this man.

Slowly, I turned back to Aizen, who hadn't moved from his spot. I kept a close eye on him, making sure that he didn't make any sudden movements. Though, he moved slightly when he got up from his chair and even that scared the living daylights out of me. Menacingly, he descended the stairs that were just in front of his chair, "Keiko, I must say, I am quite impressed with your abilities." Through my fear, it was hard to show my astonishment from what he said. So… after all this time, he just wanted to talk about my abilities? Then there was nothing to worry about – for now. I kept my guard up.

Aizen finally got to the bottom of the stairs, but still proceeded toward me, making the urge to run away strong, "I have seen nothing like it: The power to take away spiritual energy. Such a unique potential could cause you to be quite strong – which is something I value. I know that you were forced here to Hueco Mundo, but now that I've seen some of your powers, I've been meaning to ask you: How would you like to become a permanent subordinate of mine?"

I was at a loss for words. A… permanent subordinate of his? I paused to think about this for a moment: If I managed to convince him that I was an underling of his, would it support the plan that Ulquiorra had designed? It might cause Aizen to trust in me and not expect an attack. Then again, if he was the one who orchestrated the idea to get Ulquiorra to make me trust him, then wouldn't he know better than to place his trust in just anyone? But… if I didn't agree to this, would he just beat me again? Perhaps even kill me? What was the point in asking this? I hesitated, which he picked up on.

"I see you're having trouble deciding. I understand your skepticism." Aizen told me, which caused me to furrow my eyebrows. Of course he understood – as soon as I got here, he beat me. That really made me want to stay here and work for him. Duh, "But think about the possibilities: You could continue to get stronger and you wouldn't have to go back to a boring life in the World of the Living. You could even get closer to Ulquiorra." Once again, I was awestruck by his words. How did he know that?! Ulquiorra didn't know about how I truly felt about him… and I just learned about my affection for him just recently… so how did Aizen know?! Aizen's smirk grew, "You didn't think I realized it? You have a certain fondness for Ulquiorra – which was displayed obviously in your battle against him yesterday. It was obvious that you were trying your hardest to hide it, but it was clear – you allowed him to get close to you when he whispered into your ear. You could have used that moment to strike at him, but you didn't do anything. Tell me I'm wrong."

I had to swallow the lump that was lodged in my throat to reply to him, "I-I… no, of course I… there's no way that I… I don't care for him at all! There's nothing between us! Absolutely nothing; he betrayed my trust, why would I ever be fond of someone like that?!" Aizen finally stopped walking when his tall form was directly in front of me. I was paralyzed to the spot, unable to go anywhere nor look anywhere other than those brown eyes of his looking down his nose at me.

"Nothing between you two, huh?" Aizen murmured softly, which caused my heart to leap in my chest, "Then how do you explain the plan you and him as well as Grimmjow discussed yesterday?"

I gasped, a bead of sweat rolling down my temple, "H-how…? How do you know about that?!"

"Quite simple actually – I oversee everything that goes on in Las Noches. Nothing escapes my sight, even puny plans such as the one you're waiting to initiate." Aizen's eyes seemed to change from their normal, seemingly all-knowing look to a terrifying blank look – a look that could kill, "You should be more careful when making plans to seal my spiritual energy away."

Without even thinking, I somehow made my paralyzed limbs move again as I brought them out in front of me, just like Halibel taught me. I quickly and sloppily collected reishi at too fast a pace than I was used to as my heart pounded my in chest, as if it was trying to leap out. Though, before I could collect enough to fire my power out at him, that same pressure that came in the warehouse upon Aizen's arrival came back, pushing me to the ground as though a giant had slammed its fist on my head. My chin hit the ground so hard that I clearly felt the skin split open.

I tried to force myself back onto my feet, but it was no use. The pressure was so constricting, air was even difficult for me to collect into my lungs. I fell back onto the ground, my eyes closed from trying to fight back at it. It was so strong… was this… spiritual pressure? Halibel had told me about it when we trained, but this was immense – much more immense than Halibel's, that was for sure. If this continued any longer, my spine would snap!

As the pressure continued pushing me to the ground, I noticed – even from all my struggling and screaming from the pain – Aizen got down on one knee in front of me, a clear sardonic grin spread across his lips. I was dead; there was no two ways about it – I was definitely dead. Aizen was going to kill me for not joining his forces and for agreeing to a plan to seal his spiritual powers away. I was an obstruction and I was soon going to be removed.

Aizen grabbed onto a lock of my hair and forced me to look him in the eyes as the spiritual pressure slowly lightened up. He whispered in my ear, "Don't worry; I'm not going to kill you yet. There is one assignment I need you to complete before I do that. Right now, I need you to swear your fealty and to dissolve this foolish idea of–,"

Before Aizen could finish that thought, a blade was suddenly pressed up against his throat. My eyes widened and relief flooded through my body when I saw that it was Ulquiorra who had stopped Aizen. Aizen turned half-way to Ulquiorra, amusement in his eyes, "Go ahead, kill me; no matter if you build up the courage to do it – I doubt you could. But you're free to try… Ulquiorra." You could tell Ulquiorra was torn – which terrified me. Though, I suppose I could understand his situation… he had only made up the plan to fight Aizen, but that didn't mean he had steeled himself to attack the person who had been his master until this point.

"I don't need to kill you, that isn't what I'm after." Ulquiorra told him after a brief moment of silence, "What I'm after is to return Mistress Fukui back to her home in Karakura Town." With that, I was suddenly dropped back down to the floor and Aizen had gotten out his sword and had it pressed tightly against Ulquiorra's own blade. I watched on with horror only to be knocked down again when Grimmjow also jumped into the fray.

"Get out of the way, girl!" Grimmjow called, excitement in his voice as he drew his blade, "This is our fight! You're only going to get in the way if you're too close!" I rubbed the back of my head as I got to my feet again and glared at Grimmjow. Though, I quickly changed my demeanor when I looked up at the three above me and noticed that the fight had escalated quite quickly already.

Grimmjow took a swing at Aizen, who swiftly got out of the way without even lifting his sword. Ulquiorra snuck up behind him while he was still regaining himself after dodging Grimmjow's attack. Aizen lifted his sword above his head without even looking at his assailant. Effortlessly, he threw Ulquiorra off his sword and kicked Grimmjow who was coming in for another attack in the stomach, sending him a fair distance away from him. When Ulquiorra regained himself from being thrown away, he disappeared much like how he did during our fight and appeared above Aizen with his sword ready to strike as he drew closer. Grimmjow, at the same time as Ulquiorra, came ready with a heavy swing of his sword. As one, they came closer and closer to Aizen who just stood there calmly, his eyes closed. Suddenly, both Grimmjow and Ulquiorra were blown back by some sort of spiritual energy.

At the reminder of spiritual energy, I remembered that I could help out the fight by getting rid of Aizen's spiritual energy. I aimed with my arms out in front of me at Aizen. Since he was moving around a lot, it was difficult knowing when to use it. Though, I waited patiently as Ulquiorra and Grimmjow continued to attack Aizen relentlessly when suddenly, my chance came: While he was waiting for Ulquoirra and Grimmjow to synchronize their attacks, his back was left wide open. I fired all I had of my power, but just as I did, Aizen turned his head toward me. With an annoyed look on his face, he suddenly disappeared, dodging my blast.

Aizen reappeared a few feet from where the blast was and he turned to me, "Did you really think you could catch me off guard? Think again, Keiko – you're still much too inexperienced to use that ability on me, especially when I have already seen it in use."

I furrowed my brows, but I still didn't want to give up even after Aizen's demeaning words. While I charged up my attack again, Grimmjow distracted Aizen by swinging his sword harshly upon him. Aizen blocked the blow with the greatest of ease. In the back of my mind, doubt climbed in – telling me that all of this was useless. He knew about my powers, as well as Grimmjow's and Ulquiorra's, but we hardly knew anything about Aizen's. How were we going to win this?

No! My conscience screamed at me, Ulquiorra said that it would be possible to win this if you could manage to seal Aizen's spiritual energy! Just because he has the upper hand right now, doesn't mean he's won the battle! Keep trying Keiko! Don't give in!

With that in mind, I released my powers just as Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were both going for two powerful strikes at Aizen. I noticed that Aizen was aware of my powers coming toward him, but he was wary of the two in front of him as well. I grinned to myself, with my fist clenched hopefully. We got him! Though he managed to deflate my hope when he impossibly back flipped over my spiritual energy-taking wave while blocking both Ulquiorra's and Grimmjow's attack with his sword as well.

Aizen then backed away from Ulquiorra and Grimmjow, a frown etched deeply in his face, "You're beginning to irritate me, Keiko. I don't believe you want to see me when you anger me." Even though I was terrified of him just moments before this fight, I managed to find my words. Perhaps it was from the hope of winning against him or the adrenaline from all the fighting that was going on, I don't know. Whatever it was, I hoped it stayed long enough for me to continue with this confident attitude.

"I don't care!" I shot back, surprising myself, "In fact, I want you to get angry – that just means that we're winning against you and you're powerless to stop us!" Aizen looked at me which caused me to bring my guard up right away.

"Powerless to stop you?" Aizen repeated. He closed his eyes and chuckled softly, but then it quickly turned out to be a fit of laughter. My confidence melted as he laughed at me so mockingly. He stopped suddenly, looking at me smugly now, "Don't make me laugh. All three of you aren't nearly strong enough to even slightly obstruct me. I told you that you were beginning to irritate me because your powers are like an insignificant fly buzzing around my ear. And like all flies, you need to be swat in order for you to learn your place. Starrk."

Before I could react, my arms were suddenly grabbed and forced behind my back. With my eyes wide from being startled – I didn't even noticed this long brown-haired man come into the room and come up behind me. I struggled against him, testing to see if I could get out, but he had a really strong grip on my arms – to the point where it hurt.

"I suggest you don't struggle. That just makes my job harder than it should be." The man who was restraining me, Starrk I assumed, told me, his voice more laid-back sounding than I thought an Espada should be. At least, judging from the feeling he gave off, it led me to believe him to be an Espada, anyway.

Looking back at the fight between the three going on overhead worriedly, I noticed that it already began again. Dammit… Aizen probably had this guy Starrk lying in wait for this battle to ensue so he could detain my powers from interfering with the fight. Even though it was the two of them fighting against Aizen, it was easy to tell that Aizen was beginning to push them into a corner. Without my powers to seal away Aizen's spiritual energy… how were we going to be able to win this fight?!


	18. Chapter 18 Someone Special

The battle worsened. I watched on with horror as Ulquiorra and Grimmjow breathed laboriously but still fought hard against Aizen despite their fatigue. My own struggle against Starrk wasn't turning out too well either when he proved to be quite strong judging from the fact that I could barely move my hands in his grip despite the impression I was given from his almost lackadaisical exterior. It made me wonder what ranking he was… Halibel told me about how the Espada had a ranking system: The closer to the number one they were, the stronger they were. She told me that she was number three… and that Ulquiorra was number four and Grimmjow was number six… but I couldn't quite recall what number this Starrk guy was.

I looked at Starrk's half-lidded eyes, wondering silently to myself how I wasn't able to get out of a guy's grip who didn't even really show interest in the events going on in the room, but then turned back to the fight again. Aizen was completely calm; in fact, there was even a small ghost of a smile on his face as he dodged Grimmjow and Ulquiorra's attacks. It made me feel so frustrated to see Aizen giving little to no effort when the two boys were putting their all into this. Why couldn't he grace them by fighting them like he meant it?! I mean, they were, so why didn't he?!

Though, I got my wish – which didn't turn out the way I wanted – because Aizen finally made his first move. It was so quick, I thought I blinked when he did it and missed it, but I didn't even have time to do that. He disappeared just as Grimmjow was about to lunge at him with his sword at the ready and suddenly appeared behind him. Before Grimmjow could turn around, Aizen brought his sword down on his back. Grimmjow jumped back as blood fell to the floor. An angry look mixed with pain flashed on Grimmjow's face, but his injury didn't seem to faze him too much. It must not have been too deep, if that was the case and probably hurt his pride more than his body.

When Aizen wounded Grimmjow, he side-stepped, dodging Ulquiorra's attack that was coming from behind him. Ulquiorra was then wide open to Aizen's attack, where he brought the hilt of his sword down upon Ulquiorra's back, plummeting him to the floor. It seemed like such a gentle touch from Aizen, but it sent Ulquiorra down to the floor so fast that I could feel the wind from his fall nearly push me to the floor myself.

When I regained myself and looked to where Ulquiorra had landed, I gasped loudly, "Ulquiorra!" A cloud of dust erupted from the floor from Ulquiorra being thrown into it. I wanted to check if he was all right by trying to get my arms free from Starrk's grip but even then he didn't loosen his hold on me in the slightest. I glared at the dull-eyed man behind me, "Let go of me!"

"As much as I would like to listen to you and go to sleep right about now, I can't." Starrk replied casually, which made me frown. I still tried to get out, but I turned to where Ulquiorra was when I noticed in the corner of my eye that he was getting to his feet within the dust cloud. A sinking feeling in my stomach caused a bead of sweat to roll down my temple. This really wasn't going well… Aizen hadn't broke a sweat and yet Grimmjow's back was sliced open and Ulquiorra was tossed aside easily in a few seconds flat. Once the cloud of dust had dissipated, I saw that Ulquiorra had a bit of injuries on him – they were small, but still, I worried.

He must have sensed that worry or something because Ulquiorra glanced over at me for a moment before jumping back into the fray. I would've liked to know what he was thinking at that moment because it felt like he was trying to tell me something through his eyes alone. But, about what I don't think I would ever know. At the time, though, I just wanted know if we were going to all make it out of this alive.

"Well, well…," Starrk's voice suddenly sounded behind me, scaring the pants off me – I didn't expect him to speak at all. I turned toward him curiously just as he continued, "This is a new sight." While he was saying this, his eyes were fixated on the fight that was going on without looking at me. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"The resolve that Ulquiorra has." Starrk told me, but my face must have been telling him to elaborate because he sighed and continued with, "You see, all of us Espada embody some aspect of death. I represent solitude… Grimmjow, destruction… and lastly, Ulquiorra represents emptiness." I took this information in slowly. In a way, it made sense – especially Grimmjow: It explained why he was so rough and tough. Destruction was just like that; but… I couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that the Espada represented an aspect of death in the first place, but I decided not to ask. I might not want to know.

Yet, as I turned around and looked over at Ulquiorra who was attacking Aizen relentlessly, I whispered to myself, "Emptiness…?" I thought about that for a moment. It did explain the green tear-like things that looked like they were painted on Ulquiorra's face coming down from his eyes. It would also explain the reason why he was so adamant about his opinion on being alone. Although 'being alone' resided more in solitude, it also played a big part in emptiness as well. Without anything or anyone around, you don't have any bonds, nor any possessions – you were just empty. It was kind of sad when you broke it down – Ulquiorra embodied this… I wondered if it was even possible for him to feel anything for anyone when he represented such a thing. Was it possible that he was incapable of feeling anything for his comrades? Aizen? …Me? My heart began to ache.

I decided to distract myself from those thoughts and asked, "So what does that have to do with this fight anyway? How does knowing what they represent make this fight any more interesting?"

"Usually Ulquiorra lacks any desire to fight for anyone else other than Lord Aizen himself." Starrk explained, "Yet, here he is, fighting that one person for whom he would typically obey till the end." I hung my head at this, linking his representation of emptiness to the reason Ulquiorra was fighting: There was no way he could possibly be doing this because he cares for me, only duty.

"That's probably because he was my man servant at one point… he wasn't finished repaying his debt to me so that's most likely where this is coming from." I murmured sadly. When I turned to see Starrk's reaction, I noticed that he shook his head. I was astonished – with just that one action, I felt sincerity from the seemingly half-assed man. How did he seem so sure? How much did he know about Ulquiorra?

"I don't think it'd be something as petty as that." Starrk disagreed.

"What…?" I wondered.

"Ulquiorra doing this for you must make you someone really special to him. Perhaps you mean more to him than Lord Aizen, otherwise he wouldn't be here fighting Lord Aizen; and you'd still be in your room and I'd still be sleeping." Starrk told me. I had to admit, there was truth in his words – if Ulquiorra didn't really care about me even in the slightest, then he wouldn't be here fighting against his master… which must have taken a lot for him to do when he's probably been working under Aizen for a long time.

But that still didn't quite explain everything, "…what makes you think that?"

"Let's just say," Starrk began, his eyes returning to the battle, "that Ulquiorra's actions greatly exceed his words." A sudden clang of metal distracted the two of us from our side conversation, as if something was telling us to discuss no more. When I whipped my head over to where the battle was taking place, I noticed that, during the time I hadn't been paying attention, the two guys fighting Aizen were much more beaten up than I remembered. Grimmjow had a huge cut on his left shoulder now and a few scratches on his face while Ulquiorra had a cut on his midsection that didn't seem to have any lack of blood leaking out from it. I bit my lip with worry.

While the battle continued despite their injuries, I suddenly felt completely useless. I knew when we discussed the plan that I wasn't fully confident I could do this and I was right. While they were fighting so desperately against someone who was clearly much stronger than them, I was just standing here with my hands locked behind me by a person who wasn't even really trying to detain me. Ulquiorra told me to have confidence in my abilities and I thought he was right at the time, but you obviously had to have much more than confidence: You actually had to have the power to back it up.

Why did I think I could do this? Why didn't I just tell them I didn't have the skills to do what they wanted me to do and back down? Now, because of this foolishness, I not only endangered Ulquiorra and Grimmjow's life, but I also endangered Bunkichi's life. If we didn't win – and we _were _slowly losing – then Aizen was going to send the old man's dead daughter to go and kill him because I disobeyed Aizen. And it would be all my fault…

Speaking of which, what would happen after this? Where would all of us be if we lost? My face went blank when all the possibilities came up – Bunkichi, my boss and possibly my only acquaintance due to my horrible friend-making abilities, would be dead; my parents would grieve over the sudden disappearance of their only daughter, heck, their only child; Aizen would probably then threaten my parent's lives next if I disobeyed him and would most likely beat me up again; Grimmjow would die, but I suppose he would be satisfied that he didn't let Aizen completely run his life; and Ulquiorra… was it really fair if he died because of me? From what I knew about him, he didn't really decide anything for himself except for this – as he told me when he came to my room. If I were him, I would be frustrated to let other people push me around. Yet, why was he fighting against Aizen so determinedly, like Starrk mentioned?

Tears blurred my vision as I looked up at Ulquiorra who slashed at Aizen, but missed and was instead the one who got hit. My aching heart worsened. _I'm sorry Ulquiorra… I'm so sorry for making you feel obligated to do this… you don't have to fight anymore… please, I don't want to see you get hurt…_

I got snapped out of my misery when I heard Aizen speak up, "This is disappointing." I looked up and saw that Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were standing in front of a cocky Aizen, "You two are putting everything you've got into this, aren't you? And yet, you're getting tired already."

"Shut up!" Grimmjow barked, "We're going to beat the crap out of you!" Aizen didn't seem too threatened by Grimmjow, judging from the fact that his smirk never left him. Ulquiorra, on the other hand, just studied Aizen closely from a safe distance, as if gauging for an opening or wondering where Aizen was going with his brazen statement.

"Are you? I think your plan failed when I had Starrk detain Keiko. She was the deciding factor in this fight, wasn't she? She was to take away my spiritual energy, leaving me helpless to your attacks; but now that she's out of the picture, you have no hope to win." Aizen told the two boys. When he had said this, that feeling of inadequacy slipped into my stomach again, making me feel queasy.

"It doesn't matter what happens to her!" Grimmjow snapped, which really eased my steadily lowering self-esteem, "As long as I am able to get one solid hit on you before I die, I will be satisfied!" Aizen's smirk suddenly faded as he faced the two of them, lowering his sword slowly to his side. I looked at him inquisitively – why would he do that when he knew he had the advantage? Was he mocking them now? Or did he suddenly think of something?

"And that leads me on to then ask you…," Aizen murmured.

Grimmjow snarled, outraged, "Are you ignoring me?!"

"…what are you even fighting for? It's hopeless, you are only going to dig yourselves an earlier grave fighting me. You want that for the freedom of a little human girl?" Aizen speculated, sounding more annoyed than curious. I turned my focus from the brown-haired man to Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, wondering what they were truly fighting for. Well, I was more curious about Ulquiorra's reason than Grimmjow's, since the blue-haired Arrancar's was pretty obvious.

"Hell no!" Grimmjow immediately denied, "Why the hell would I do anything for her?! I just want to beat your ass for shaming me and thinking you can walk all over me!"

Once again, Aizen ignored Grimmjow, "…and you, Ulquiorra? What is it you are fighting this hopeless battle for?" Upon such a question, the room fell to a deafening silence. My heart pounded with worry over his answer, which was a silly thing to worry about. I shouldn't be expecting him to say, 'Because I care for Mistress Fukui' because it wasn't realistic at all.

But that didn't change the fact that I wanted to hear it.

Finally, Ulquiorra opened his mouth. My eyes widened hopefully just as these words came out from him, "My answer is quite simple, really. It is to repay a debt." I felt my insides stinging from hearing those words, but I even told Starrk that he just felt obligated to do this for me since he was my man servant. Yet, even still, it hurt so much to actually hear it come from Ulquiorra's lips. Why, just once in my life, couldn't I have affected someone special to me? Was I not interesting enough for him? I quickly shook these thoughts out of my head before they got out of hand. This wasn't what I should be thinking at a time like this! Right now, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were battling one of the strongest men I have ever seen and all I was doing was sitting around thinking about how I was so boring that Ulquiorra didn't bother to pay any attention to me? Geez, I'm pathetic!

"A debt?" Aizen repeated, sounding almost amused, "A debt that you were apparently repaying while you were following my orders?" Ulquiorra downcast his eyes away from everyone. There wasn't any sadness in those eyes, nor any kind of emotion for that matter. The only thing I could sense, even from where I was, coming from those eyes were regret.

After that brief pause, Ulquiorra answered, "Don't assume that I was falsely repaying my debt while I was following your orders. While under Mistress Fukui's roof—,"

"Why do you continue to call her that?" Aizen interrupted, sounding slightly offended might I add, "I am your only master – I created you. I will not allow you to use honorifics for anyone else but myself." I kept what Aizen said in the back of my mind, pondering the same thing Aizen just asked. Why did he continue to call me 'Mistress Fukui'? I mean, I know he said that he was 'still my man servant despite all that has happened' the day he brought me here but… we were in Hueco Mundo now and Aizen was right in front of him. You'd think he would drop it so he wouldn't anger Aizen, and angering Aizen could spell a quicker death. Was it just a slip of the tongue on Ulquiorra's part?

Grimmjow grinned slightly, "Someone sounds jealous." Aizen shot Grimmjow a deadly, disapproving glare but Grimmjow didn't even flinch under such a gaze. I was surprised at how strong he was acting. Not just him, but Ulquiorra as well. It would take a lot to talk back to the one who created you; let alone fight them!

"It's nothing of the sort." Aizen replied nonchalantly, "As I said before, I was the one who created you both and it is because of me that the two of you are as strong as you are. What I can't comprehend is how you can't be grateful for all I've done for you." That immediately made Grimmjow's smirk melt off his face. He clenched his fist so hard that it shook in front of him.

"Grateful?! You treat us like trash – hell, you don't even see us as individuals, just slaves that exist for your disposal!" Grimmjow shouted, which caused the grin that Grimmjow had earlier to now appear on Aizen's face. He seemed to have regained his calm composure that he began the fight with.

"Are you insinuating that you're something else to me? I don't believe you understand your position: You are my weapon and I am your wielder – you are nothing more nor nothing less. If you break or get dull, I will discard you; if you get sharper and suit me well enough, I will keep you. I would have thought that was common knowledge to you by now." Aizen insulted the two men right in front of them. Even I was appalled, and I wasn't even the one being talked about. Aizen just created all these Espadas and the Arrancars just so he could use them?! They had a personality, they had feelings (I believe), they had memories and they had a past! They weren't just inanimate objects that could be used or cast aside! He may be their creator – that part may be true, but that didn't give him the right to treat them like that!

I thought back to the time I spent time with Ulquiorra and how he grew to act differently around me after a few days of living with me. That must have meant something – he wasn't a tool, just like how I wasn't! Same goes for Grimmjow: They were living and breathing and deserved to be treated like anyone else! And there was also that time when Ulquiorra and I were in the car… he said that he was growing comfortable and how his life after he met me was different, a good kind of different. Was he talking about how Aizen treated him like a tool? Was the reason he grew comfortable around me because I didn't do that, but instead, accepted him as his own person? Of course, I didn't really know about Aizen or what his past was like, but still, it made me feel good that I was able to give him a different experience with having a master who didn't treat him like how Aizen did.

Grimmjow snapped me out of my thoughts when he yelled, "That's _it_!" He turned to Ulquiorra who looked at him without a shred of anger on his face even after what Aizen just said, "Ulquiorra, let's kill this guy!" Although Ulquiorra already explained to both Grimmjow and I that it was probably impossible to kill Aizen, I had to agree with the blue-haired man. More than ever, I wanted this Aizen guy to kick the bucket – which wasn't a very nice thing to say; but, really, he was so aggravating with his careless attitude when it came to his subordinates! Such a person shouldn't deserve to go on doing what he wants!

With that, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra shot out like darts at Aizen, who brought his sword up again. He blocked Grimmjow's attack that was coming straight toward his head and locked blades with him while dodging Ulquiorra's attack. Ulquoirra was about to come attack him from behind but Aizen saw it coming and grabbed Ulquiorra's wrist and threw him into a wall, causing the stone walls to crumble. I feared for him, but I couldn't worry about just Ulquiorra for long when Aizen focused on getting Grimmjow off from his blade when he used his now free fist to punch Grimmjow's stomach. Grimmjow hunched his back over after the powerful impact and was slashed away by Aizen while he was still recovering.

I didn't even see Ulquiorra come out from the wall when suddenly he appeared behind Aizen, ready to stab him. Aizen quickly dodged, scraping his blade against Ulquiorra's to weaken the stab and to get in closer to attack Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra must have seen that coming because he back stepped away just in time before Aizen could land a hit on him. Using Ulquiorra's attack as a distraction, I noticed Grimmjow getting back up into the fray when he came from underneath Aizen, right in a perfect blind spot, with his sword ready and his fangs bared. Aizen, cautious as ever, mumbled a few words under his breath and when he finished, a sudden yellow light shone around Grimmjow, pressing into him and making him unable to move. Was that… kido? Halibel also mentioned that, but this was the first I'd ever seen. Grimmjow swore loudly as he tried to get out of the ring of lights.

Turning his attention on Ulquiorra now, Aizen turned around and suddenly disappeared only to reappear behind Ulquiorra, who seemed to have been expecting that. Aizen didn't seem surprised that he was able to find him even though he disappeared, as if he was just playing around with him now, as he brought his sword down upon one of his many 'creations'. Ulquiorra blocked it, but not without difficulty. Aizen was able to render Ulquiorra's strength to nothing when he kicked him in the side. Ulquiorra was blown back, but as he tried to regain his footing, Aizen came after him as quick as a whip and slashed at him relentlessly. It was all Ulquiorra could do to keep himself from being sliced into ribbons.

"Ulquiorra… you were my most faithful Espada… why… why have you chosen this _girl_ over me? Your Lord and Creator?!" Aizen asked while still hacking away at Ulquiorra. For a long time, Ulquiorra didn't say anything to him. It didn't surprise me that Aizen took this betrayal as hard as he was, even though he didn't show it often, because even I was shocked that Ulquiorra would go this far for me. It was almost like… attacking a God for someone. Why? Why go through all this when you could just appease the God and allow them to do whatever they like? It didn't seem logical and I thought Ulquiorra out to be a logical man himself… so, indeed, why did he do it? I waited patiently for his answer. Although, Aizen wasn't as patient, "Answer my question!"

Before he could block it or dodge it, Aizen tore Ulquiorra's shoulder open with his sword. I shouted Ulquiorra's name unconsciously as he stepped away from Aizen, blood profusely falling to the floor. Worry ate at me – this wasn't going well and Aizen was steadily getting angrier which didn't bode well for the two Espada. If only I could do something…!

Finally, despite his major injury he just received, Ulquiorra answered while clutching the giant open wound, "This 'girl' is much more than just that. It's true that she's just a human girl and that she's caused me to do some very absurd things and you may think that she is only worth anything because of her useful abilities, but I spent time with her and I got to know her. To me… Mistress Fukui is a worthy master and…," My heart soared to hear those words. His earlier claim that he was only doing this out of duty faded and my hope that he actually cared about me came back.

Aizen was getting irritable from his pause when he pressed, "…and what?"

"And she was the one who made me feel like I was actually someone rather than just a tool." Ulquiorra replied firmly which caused my eyes to widen. Earlier, when Aizen was talking down to the two of them, Ulquiorra didn't show any signs of being bothered by that fact, as if he knew and accepted it already. Though, I supposed from his statement just now… he must have been brooding on it and secretly comparing his two masters: Aizen and myself. I was astonished at how quickly I was able to affect him while Aizen had been Ulquiorra's master for some time… but at the same time it made me happy to hear it.

I lowered my head and blushed as I murmured, "Ulquiorra…,"

It was then that I heard a snapping noise, as if glass was being shattered. When I looked back up, I noticed that Grimmjow had broken out of the kido that Aizen had put on him. Not only that, but a blue aura surrounded him and he emerged from it a changed man. His sword was gone, and he had legs that were shaped like a four-legged mammal's back legs such as a cat or a dog and he was suddenly wearing a white full-body suit. There was a long white tail leading out from his backside making him look almost like a leopard or something on two feet. His hair had grown long enough to reach his feet and there was a headband-like thing around his forehead. While going behind Aizen to surround him, he flexed his fingers, showing off his really long claws.

"No more holding back." Grimmjow grinned, as he glared over at Aizen who didn't seem pleased at this new form of his. Just as Grimmjow had transformed, so Ulquiorra did also – a dark green aura surrounded him as well. When he came out, even Aizen was a little surprised when he saw his new form: He had become almost devil-like, with his black bat wings stretching out from his back and a black, whip-like tail swished behind him, with a pointed end at the tip. Sharp white horns poked out from his head and his shirt disappeared, revealing a hole on his chest that I hadn't seen before, but knew that Grimmjow had one too so I assumed that it was an Arrancar thing. Ulquiorra's dark hair also grew out like Grimmjow's had and his green eyes turned yellow and the whites of his eyes turned pitch black. Fur trimmed his lower half, all the way to his claw-like fee

"Indeed." Ulquiorra agreed as he readied a green blade-like weapon in his hand, "Let's try to end this as quickly as possible – for our own sake as well as Mistress Fukui's sake."


	19. Chapter 19 An Accidental Confession

I had to admit, I had absolutely no idea why, but the transformations that Grimmjow and Ulquiorra underwent just a few moments ago made them so much more powerful than they were! Grimmjow was a lot quicker than he was and his attacks were almost invisible to the human eye; while Ulquiorra's javelin-like things that seemed to be made out of reishi or something along those lines were immensely powerful! Of course, since I was around and we were inside a building, Ulquiorra admitted to making them significantly weaker than they could be. They were so much better off than they were when they were in their regular forms that I almost wished they just transformed from the start so they didn't worry me as much as they did.

Aizen was having much more trouble fighting the two of them than he did before their transformation also. His smile now gone, it took everything in his power to keep them from hitting him. Though, with Grimmjow's insane speeds, he was having trouble keeping him at bay while not getting hit by Ulquiorra's powerful javelins at the same time. Sweat coated his forehead as he struggled against them; and I couldn't help but celebrate outwardly when Ulquiorra had managed to get one hit on him. Albeit, it was just a graze from one of the javelins before it exploded behind him, but still, it was progress!

While Aizen glared at the two of them a huge smile that hadn't been there since the fight began stretched its way across my face. We were going to win this! And the boys didn't even need my help! Why were they so worried about fighting Aizen when they had this trump card? If they just continued to be vigilant to all of Aizen's attacks, they would win this for sure! I had absolutely no doubt!

…that is, until I noticed Aizen suddenly turned up the corners of his lips.

My heart dropped to my stomach. Aizen was… smiling? Why? Did he have something that we didn't know about? Or did he also have some sort of transformation that he was hiding? Oh god, this wasn't good – happy Aizen was not good! What if whatever he had planned for them made him so he was able to win this battle quickly? Then Ulquiorra's and Grimmjow's own transformation and them 'not holding back anymore' like Grimmjow had said after his transformation wouldn't mean a thing! I had to do something before things turned out for the worse!

Once more, I tried to get away from Starrk who didn't loosen his grip in the slightest. Come on…! Just let me help them! I can't let them die without knowing I could have helped them! Please…! It was only then that I remembered that before I came to this room, I had equipped my dagger on my person to prepare for a fight. If I could just manage to get to it…

I fought against Starrk's strong grasp and used as much strength as I could possibly muster. I noticed in the corner of my eye that Starrk finally turned my way while I continued to resist against him. He didn't say anything as I managed to move my arms enough to just barely touch my dagger. I was glad he didn't take me as seriously as he should have because, due to his carelessness, I managed to get my dagger. I slashed at him and he jumped back, releasing me quickly, but even then his eyes were still half-lidded.

"What do you think you're doing?" Starrk asked me as I faced him with my now free hands shaking, "Are you planning on fighting me? Because if you are, we both know that it's useless: I've seen your technique and it looks pretty easy to dodge and your sword fighting ability is pretty laughable as well."

"Shut up!" I barked, although I only said it out of fear. I didn't want to fight an Espada; especially when I didn't know what rank he was! If he was fairly high, I would have no chance against him, even if I managed to get my spiritual energy taking powers in on him. Not knowing what I was up against scared me, but I had to do something if we were going to win this fight! So I asked, "Wh-what rank are you?"

He sighed, "Unluckily for you…," He slipped off his glove and the big, bold number 1 that stared back at me was all I needed to see, "I'm the strongest Espada." My mouth fell open as fear gripped its icy fingers around my heart. Number 1…?! There was no way I was going to win; but I couldn't just back out now – Aizen obviously had something planned for Grimmjow and Ulquiorra; and Starrk would just hold me back while the battle above continued if I didn't do something about him. It was difficult to find my courage, even if the man in front of me was completely bored-looking out of his mind.

When Starrk hadn't made a move, I forced my trembling knees forward. I took one step, faced him to see if he was still unmoving – which he was. He remained perfectly still which gave me the strength I needed to charge out at him with my dagger out. I screamed as I made my way toward him to make myself more confident, but the closer I got to him, the more I lost my resolve. No! Don't let this guy scare you! He may be the Number 1 Espada, but he can't kill you without Aizen's orders! Besides, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow know they are fighting a hopeless battle, but they continue to fight! Don't lose hope! I told myself.

Just as I brought down my dagger, I suddenly fell to the ground – before I could attack him, he disappeared! Crumbling to the floor, I opened one eye to see him staring down at me with an uncaring look. It angered me that he didn't even make any move to strike back at me. Sure I didn't want to get hurt by this guy, but still, he didn't even consider this a fight from the way he was acting! With my blood boiling from this slight, I got up on my feet again and tried to attack him once more.

This time, just as I was getting close to him, he kicked me hard in the stomach, blowing me onto my back. OK… I take it back, maybe it was better if he didn't hit me. Comparing to say, Grimmjow, when he was beating me up in the warehouse, Starrk's attack just now – despite it being effortless – hurt much more than Grimmjow stomping on my open wound. I clutched onto my stomach, waiting for it to recover, but it did so very slowly. I spat out some blood and watched it fall to the floor with horror. One measly attack from Starrk and I was rendered to this?!

Suddenly, a shadow descended upon my twitching form that was still hunched over in pain. I looked up to see Starrk, hands in his pockets, who asked, "I'll ask you again: Why do you continue when we both know it's useless to fight me?"

Fighting against the pain that was throbbing throughout my body, I managed to lift one knee up. Struggling immensely, I pushed myself to get to my feet, but not without standing with my feet apart in such a way that supported my weight as much as possible. I glared over at Starrk, who seemed surprised at the fact that I was able to get to my feet despite the weak kick he gave me. Normally, I would not have gotten back up… the pain was too much; but this fight… this fight changed that fact. I had a purpose, and I would see that purpose through, just as Ulquoirra and Grimmjow were doing.

"Ulquiorra…," I murmured, pausing a moment to bear a wave of pain and held onto my stomach tighter, "…he's fighting with everything he's got to get me back home. The least I can… do for him is make that job even in the slightest bit easier!" Starrk replaced his earlier shocked expression for a demeanor of intrigue and slight amusement.

"All this just because he stayed with you a few days and you got attached to him?" Starrk wondered. I grinded my teeth; he knew nothing. It wasn't just an attachment I had for Ulquiorra: Not when he gave me so many things. Before him, I had no one in my life really… only my parents and Bunkichi. When he came, he gave me a reason to want to return to my apartment; and he gave me a reason to care, to worry, to fight. Without him, I would be nowhere near the person who I am today: I would be just Keiko Fukui. Due to that…

"It's much more than that!" I shouted at Starrk, and when I gauged him for his reaction, he appeared off guard. I clenched my fists and tightened my grip on my dagger as I burst out without even really thinking about it, "I love him!"

Upon those words coming out from my throat, everything around me seemed to stop. The pain in my stomach slowly faded away and the battle between Aizen, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra suddenly halted as well. Although it was a little embarrassing to have everyone's eyes on me, I didn't regret my words at all. At first, I wasn't really sure about my affections toward Ulquoirra, but when he came into my room I was sure of my feelings for him. But now, I was more than just 'sure' I was absolutely confident that they were there. He may have stayed with me for a few days after I told him to be my man servant and I may have had some precious moments with him, but they only assured my love for him.

Also, it wasn't just because he was hot, which he was, that I loved him. It wasn't even really his personality – it was the fact that he stuck with me all that time when he could have easily left me. He could have broken his promise to me by leaving the very next day. And, even though he had betrayed me and told me it was all an act, I still couldn't bring myself to completely hate him. That was because that love told me to have faith in him. And when it proved true when he told me about how he wanted to return me back to Karakura Town, despite what Aizen wanted, that trust that he had broken immediately came back.

"Love him?" Aizen's voice rang in disbelief. I turned to him just as he laughed out loud at me. Though, his laughter was completely alone – no one else laughed with him. That gave me strength and confidence in my decision to confess my feelings for Ulquiorra right then and there. Finally, when he finished his little chortle, he continued, "You claim you love him, little girl? I knew you harbored some sort of affection for him, but love? Don't you know it's foolish to love Arrancars, especially one of the Espada?"

"What do you mean?" I demanded, no longer trembling like I once was.

"They're my weapons!" Aizen declared, long passed his laughing, "There's nothing to love! It's the same as loving the guillotine that falls on one's neck during an execution! Any 'feelings' you may have for them are unrequited – they do not feel; they do not care for anyone or anything! Imprudent girl – I would have thought that to be obvious right now, but you're still delving in your girlish fantasies. If your so-called 'love' for my Espada is causing you to fight against me, then I perhaps I should kill him in front of you. Would that destroy your impudence?"

I gasped, sweat rolling down my temple, "No…! Don't! Don't do it!"

"Remember this, girl, as I'm killing the one you 'love' before you – any love you might have is just a hindrance. With feelings, it is easy for anyone to manipulate a person's mind and control it in whatever fashion you choose." Aizen glared down at me evilly, "That is why–," Before Aizen could say any more about killing Ulquiorra or berating my affections for him I noticed that the very man who I had just confessed to suddenly appeared behind Aizen, a javelin raised high. I couldn't help but be mindful of how… drastically Ulquiorra's expression had changed. Usually, there was nothing written plainly on his face, but now… now there was clear umbrage shading his facial features.

In a voice of supressed rage, Ulquiorra said, "I will not tolerate such insults toward Mistress Fukui – even if they're from you." Before Aizen could react, Ulquiorra had thrown the javelin at Aizen which stabbed his shoulder and plummeted him to the concrete floors where the javelin exploded in a large green light. The power was so immense that I was blown off of my feet with a shriek. I would have landed harshly on my back if I wasn't suddenly caught by a pair of strong arms. When I looked up to see who had stopped me, I noticed that it was Ulquiorra. I admit, he had frightened me a little when he had that expression on his face before he fired the javelin, but now he wore a much softer expression on his face which caused my heart to skip a beat.

"Quickly." Ulquiorra murmured to me as the explosion from the javelin was beginning to diminish, "Use your powers to seal away his spiritual energy before he gets up." In the corner of my eye, I noticed that Starrk must have overheard Ulquiorra speaking because he tried to rush over and stop us, but Grimmjow suddenly appeared in front of him.

"You're my opponent, Mr. Number 1." Grimmjow said confidently. Starrk scoffed, but had no other choice as he engaged in combat against Grimmjow. Ulquiorra took this moment of reprieve to release me from his arms as the explosion got more and more tolerable the more it lessened in immensity.

When Ulquiorra gave me a nod of recognition, I turned to where I knew Aizen would probably come out of the explosion collecting reishi and preparing to use my ability. Just as the explosion left dust surrounding the area, I saw that there was a silhouette in the middle of it that was struggling to get to their feet. My heart pounded in my chest as I aimed my focus on Aizen. Don't miss, don't miss, don't miss… I thought to myself just as I fired the blast. I sensed that it was heading straight toward him – it was a definite hit!

Hope filled my body, eradicating the pain that still lingered, but only for a moment. That surge of powerful spiritual pressure came once more, making my blast be blocked. Aizen was resisting the blast through his spiritual power alone – the very thing my ability was said to take away! How was this even possible?! I heard a low laugh from within the dust just as my power was being forced back from him.

Aizen, whose clothes had been slightly torn from the blast Ulquiorra had sent his way, appeared from out of the dust with a cocky, slightly deranged look on his face. He terrified me, causing me to struggle to continue to fight against his spiritual pressure, "Do you really think you can defeat me with that pathetic technique!? I am much more powerful than all of you! I can hold this power off easily; and once I stop it, I swear I will kill all of you! I'll start with the one you love and then I will come for you – I will tear your body to shreds for your disobedience! There will be nothing left of you; your body will be broken and unrecognizable! I was a fool to think you'd be useful to me – you are but a petty, insignificant insect that tried to battle a God!"

After he said that, he went into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. He was completely different from just a few seconds ago; what happened?! Was he so enraged that we pushed him into this corner even though we were so beneath him that it caused him to become like this? I had to admit, though, now that he was acting this way, I found it much more difficult to force my blast at him. I mean, it was difficult before, but now it was getting to the brink of impossible. If this continued the way it was going, then I wasn't going to be able to seal his spiritual powers and this fight would be lost if we couldn't get another moment like this again!

As I struggled against Aizen's immense spiritual pressure, I felt a hand come upon mine. Shocked, I noticed that Ulquiorra was looking at me without worry. Did that mean… he believed I could do it? That was then I realized that Ulquiorra, with his hand on mine, was feeding my blast with his own strength which made it easier for me to push back on Aizen's spiritual pressure. Aizen must have realized this too because his laughter suddenly stopped short as he concentrated on what was going on in front of him.

I smiled up at Ulquiorra and, thanking him inside my head as I put everything I had into my blast and so did he. With that, my blast quickly overcame Aizen's spiritual pressure and swept over Aizen who let out a terrified scream. While all this was going on, I couldn't help but come to this understanding: Being alone, one won't be pained by those around them nor could they be threatened by anyone…

…but being alone doesn't give you the strength necessary to overcome life's hardships; you need to have another person there to help you get through all the obstacles while on your journey of life to reach the things that would be otherwise unattainable.

* * *

**Author's Note: Just a heads up guys, there is only one more chapter left after this! D: But don't worry! I'm currently writing a second book of this series! :) After this one's completed and you want to read more, make sure to look for the next story by either following me or to check out my profile! I'll try to update as soon as I can! ^ _ ^**


	20. Chapter 20 Call me Keiko (Final Chapter)

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Other than those words followed by hyperventilation, there was nothing but complete silence in the room. Even the battle that was going on between Grimmjow and Starrk steadily came to a stop and the two of them stared at Aizen who was now indemnified to currently having no spiritual energy. Ulquiorra and I stood side-by-side and, even though we had finished putting our powers together to make the blast stronger, I still hadn't released Ulquiorra's hand. He didn't take it away from me for which I was glad because I would probably be needing his strength again to face the man in front of us that was distressed over the fact that his powers were stripped from him.

Aizen's brown hair was falling down in front of his face as he swung his sword wildly at us as if thinking he could still fight, but in his weakened state, he couldn't really harm any of us with such pathetic attacks. All of us stayed perfectly still while he continued to wallow in denial, "_No_! This isn't right – this isn't what's supposed to happen at all! I am supposed to be the ultimate being, separate from Hollows and Shinigami alike! How could I be defeated by my own creations and a weak human girl?! I should be able to crush you all like the little bugs you are! Why?!" Aizen, put out from his little fit, fell to his knees.

"It's over now, Aizen." I told him, feeling accomplished – not exactly happy, for some reason; but accomplished, "You lost, accept that. You won't be bothering anyone for a long time."

Aizen glared up at me through his brown hair that was dangling in front of his eyes, "You… _bitch_! You're weak, you're abilities are weak – they will fade over time. Yes, that's right – your powers don't last forever! I've seen them in action and I've calculated how long it takes to recover from it! It takes about three days to recover after being exposed to it the first time!" He forced himself to get to his feet, his knees were shaking but he seemed to ignore it as he smiled at me as if he had the upper hand, "And when I get my powers back, believe me, I _will come back to kill you_!"

"I don't believe it will be that simple." Ulquiorra piped up, which definitely caught Aizen's attention, even in the slovenly state he was in, "I, too, have observed Mistress Fukui's powers. Yet, while you observed from afar, I experienced it twice both up close and in combat. During those two times, I came to a realization: That not only does Mistress Fukui's powers take away spiritual energy, it also contains and seals it inside of her." This news came as a surprise to me – no one had ever told me about _that_. Then again, Ulquiorra was the one who experienced my powers the most out of everyone, even Halibel, so it made sense as to how he knew that kind of information about it.

"What?!" Aizen demanded, alarmed.

"That being said, if Mistress Fukui puts her mind to it, she can contain someone's spiritual powers indefinitely as long as she continues to concentrate her powers on it. The only reason it returned to me was because she was unconsciously feeding it back to me." Ulquiorra took this moment to look me in the eyes, "Therefore, until the day she dies, she will continue to hold onto your spiritual powers. Which no longer makes you a threat."

I could clearly hear Aizen's teeth grinding when he said, "Then I'll just have to kill her! I cannot die, but I can make sure _she_ does!"

Ulquiorra glared over at Aizen, "I forbid it."

"How _dare_ you! How dare you say something like that to your Creator!" Aizen shouted, "It is I who should be telling you that _I_ forbid such defiance! No not even that – you're worth _nothing_ to me now. I should have you _killed_!" Ulquiorra, before Aizen could even see it coming, pointed his finger at his former master and fired a green blast at him, hitting him in the shoulder knocking his weakened form back to the floor. Aizen coughed out blood, but seemed more insulted than in pain.

"You may have been the one who created me and I might have not gotten to where I am right now because of you, but you didn't help me change for the better." Ulquiorra told him, but though his voice knew no vehemence I could tell clearly from his shaking hand that was still in mine that he was seething with suppressed indignation.

"What are you saying?!" Aizen demanded, unable to get up again. Ulquiorra and I looked down at his pitiful sight, "Change for the better?! Are you suggesting this insignificant little human _girl_ changed your life for the better? How?! I have done so much more for you, only to be betrayed by you; tell me how she did it, Ulquiorra!"

There was silence for a moment, almost like everyone in the room was mourning for the man that Aizen could have been and what he had instead become. I admit, I was saddened by what fate had in store for this man I had just taken the powers from. He may have beaten me, treated everyone around him as nothing – merely tools and he may have been pathetic enough to think he could get away with doing such terrible things to people… but no one deserved the kind of fate he was getting: A self-styled god thrown down from heaven and forced to instead live in humility in amongst the rest of us 'low lives'. I could only hope that this horrible transition was good for him so that he will change for the better.

Finally, Ulquiorra answered his question, "She didn't do anything."

"So, how—?!" Aizen began.

"Nor did she have to do anything." Ulquiorra continued, ignoring Aizen. I looked over at Ulquiorra who glanced at me when he noticed that I had shifted my eyes back over to his. Those eyes… even in this new form of his, they still looked just as beautiful. My heart raced in my chest as he went on, "Just by being with her, even in such few days, I came to realize that there were major differences between working under you and working under Mistress Fukui. I came to realize things such as kindness, acceptance and understanding were much more desirable than cruelty and indifference. In time, I had grown to long for it. And now… I have fought to defeat the old ways that I had been treated and fought for the new."

"Ulquiorra…," I murmured, my face turning a bright red. Did he… did he truly think all those nice things about me? Was this difference the 'change for the better' that he was talking about earlier?

"Nonsense! That's complete and utter imbecility!" Aizen roared back, "You wanted kindness? You wanted understanding?! Why would those things be necessary when you were only my tool? A tool doesn't need such soft things like that – they will only make you dull and unusable!" Aizen continued to ramble on, but I ignored him when Ulquiorra squeezed my hand and one of those black hole-like things – a Garganta, I assumed – appeared in front of us. Ulquiorra stared into my eyes and mine also burned into his as a smile crept onto my lips.

"Let's go back." Ulquiorra told me, "Let's go back to the apartment."

I nodded, "With pleasure!" And, with that, the two of us, hand-in-hand, walked right into the Garganta, with Aizen's screaming dwindling out behind us as we got further and further away from him and as the Garganta slowly closed behind us…

* * *

Hours turned into days and days into months as time quickly passed after the battle with Aizen came to a close. Ulquiorra and I had pretty much gone back to the life we had lived before Aizen came into the picture: Ulquiorra, willingly this time, returned to being my man servant even though I told him he really didn't have to and could instead be my roommate. He insisted, so I allowed him with a defeated smile. Every day was always an adventure with Ulquiorra and I loved every moment I spent with him. I didn't have to worry about him lying to me because he had already proved his trustworthiness back during the fight with Aizen. Soon, we had fallen into a lovely routine that suited us both.

As for Grimmjow, Ulquiorra had gotten word that he was listless as anything now that Aizen was subjugated. There was, I quote: 'No one strong enough to fight around here!'. So a lot of the time, he came and crashed in my apartment and flicked on Big Bang Theory and ate all my chips. He was a pain, but I had to admit, he really knew how to liven the place up. Also, I was glad that we had gotten to be somewhat friends – even if he wasn't exactly the nicest person to me at the beginning. It really filled my world full of more people and the more the merrier, I say! –Er, even if most people couldn't see them like I could.

Anyway, I managed to fix the window that Ulquiorra had broken the first night I met him. It took me about four months to get enough funds saved up due to my minimum wage job, but I finally managed to do it! Though, it was kind of sad to see the tarp and the blanket go because it reminded me of the first few days Ulquiorra and I spent together. So, instead of throwing those old things out, I replaced the curtains with the tarp and blanket as a monument for that day. Ulquiorra thought it was illogical to do something as sentimental as that, but I quickly reminded him who owned this apartment.

Eventually, the more my parents visited Ulquiorra and I, the more accustomed my dad got to Ulquiorra. It took a long time… I mean a really long time, to get him used to Ulquiorra, but when he did – oh boy, did he. When he came to accept Ulquiorra he'd always come visit me with a case of beer under his arm for him and Ulquiorra to drink while watching the hockey game. It was kind of humorous, watching Ulquiorra drink beer for the very first time, but it was also nice to see dad get used to him. It made it seem… like my parents thinking that Ulquiorra is my 'lover' was almost a fact. Yet, even though I had confessed to him that day in Las Noches, he didn't respond to my feelings. But, I didn't want to push anything upon Ulquiorra – after all, why would I ruin what we had now for that?

There was no sign of Aizen, even after around four going on to five months had passed since I had taken away his spiritual energy. Ulquiorra, as a part of his duties, always reminded me to keep concentrating on Aizen's powers to keep them sealed away. It soon became a part of my daily routine, just sitting down for a few minutes to do some concentration exercises. Though, every time Ulquiorra mentioned it, I began to worry. What if Aizen somehow managed to escape Hueco Mundo and came over to kill us, like he swore he would? Every day I worried about it and it kept eating away at me.

After a while of worrying, Ulquiorra finally picked up on it on one of my days off, "Mistress Fukui, I've noticed a sudden change in your demeanor these past few days. What has caused you to become so lethargic?" I was sitting at my table drawing circles on a piece of paper while thinking to myself about all the possibilities that could happen if Aizen returned.

"No reason in particular…," I murmured back, but I must have made it too obvious that I was concerned about something because Ulquiorra stopped doing whatever it was he was doing and came over to the table and sat down in the chair next to mine.

"Your tone suggests otherwise." Ulquiorra speculated, "Tell me what it is that's bothering you." I sighed and tried as much as I could to avoid eye contact. There was just no refusing him; I just couldn't bring myself to lie or keep any secrets from Ulquiorra. It was as if he could see right through me – which was kind of creepy, but nice in its own way at the same time.

"I'm worried about Aizen." I admitted. When Ulquiorra didn't say anything to that, I continued on, "I'm worried that, if he comes back he is going to kill us all for what we've done to him. I don't… I don't want him to ruin this life we fought so hard to gain…," Anxiety poked its painful needles into my stomach, making me want to retch with worry. All of this, this whole five months that we worked so hard to obtain could just be gone in an instant. And that frightened me. I didn't want to die, but more importantly, I didn't want Grimmjow to die and I especially didn't want Ulquiorra to die.

"Mistress Fukui, allow me to tell you something." Ulquiorra finally said, causing my head to turn up and focus on him, "Do you remember when you asked me that if when it came down to deciding either Lord Aizen or yourself, who I would choose to fight for?" When I nodded my head slowly in response, Ulquiorra continued, "I finally know the answer to it."

I was astonished to hear those words, but I was even more shocked when Ulquiorra had grabbed my hand and lifted it up to his lips. My face went bright red and my heart pounded faster and harder in my chest than a racehorse. The gentle touch of his soft lips caressing my hand… it was so serene, I thought I was trapped inside a movie or something. Though whatever it was I didn't want to wake up from it! Don't pinch me!

Ulquiorra looked into my eyes, his head still bowed in front of my hand, "I would choose you. Any day, any time. After all we've been through, I finally found out what it was that caused me to have that pain in my chest whenever I saw you glare at me with hatred. All this time, I thought it out to be irritation – that you irritated me to the point where I couldn't do anything to cure it. It is quite the opposite: I am in love with you, Mistress Fukui." I could have easily melted from those words. Instead, all I could find myself doing was smiling stupidly in front of him. No one has ever said those words to me before; no man, anyway – or even woman for that matter. He was the first one – but that didn't even matter, I was just happy that he actually found it in himself, where Aizen thought him to be incapable, to love me.

Instead of saying 'I love you too', I ended up dumbly saying, "Please… call me Keiko…," I looked away from those eyes of his and stared down at my lap and felt the idea that Aizen could come back being erased from my mind. I didn't have to worry about anything – not now that the one I loved promised to protect me from such dangers. He didn't even have to say that part outright, I knew it anyway; because if I were in his position, I'd do the exact same thing for him.

* * *

**The End of Book One~!**


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